Home
by imaginesakura
Summary: After the loss of Naruto, Sakura attacks Sasuke and ends up waking up in an unfamiliar place. After learning about the new world, Sakura decides to try to find her way home. To do this she decides to enter the grand line. No pairings as of yet.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys this is my first ever fanfic. In all honesty Im not much of a writer but I get these crazy ideas about anime and books so I decided I just needed to write them down. These are 2 of my favourite anime. I hope you enjoy the story line. Any tips or pointers on how to write better will be much appreciated. Please be kind :)

**revised 13/2/15**

I do not own Naruto or One piece.

Home

She couldn't believe it. He was dead. Their hope, their light had been taken from them. But not just by anyone, he was taken by his best friend, her first crush and their former team mate. She held him in her arms as blood trickled out from the hole that now punctured his abdomen and the deep cut that was in bedded in his thigh. She could see the green glow of her chakra waning as she pushed her chakra to the limits trying to seal the wounds closed.

She knew the truth though. She couldn't save him. She was weak and she had always been weak. She looked towards the night sky praying that this was just a nightmare, that she would wake up and see the light in his bright cerulean eyes that were now faded to a dull blue. That he would smile at her like he used to or that Tsunade-shishou would arrive and everything would be okay. She would heal him. But all she saw was a crimson moon shedding light on the land littered with the bodies of her fallen comrades.

As her gaze lowered and the chakra in her hands ceased, she looked to the battle between her sensei and the person responsible for his death. How could he do this? Weren't they nakama? She should have trusted her gut when he first appeared, but she had been so hopeful and Naruto had been so confident. She relied on him again. She believed that Naruto could change him. That Naruto could fix things and everything would go back to how it used to be.

If only he could see! But it was too late. Sasuke had been lost to them long ago and now he had taken Naruto with him too. She could feel the tears begin to rush to her eyes and she held back a sob as they began to stream down her face. She gently caressed his face before lifting her hand higher to close his eyes.

_I'm Sorry, Naruto. _She thought. _If only I had been stronger I could have saved you. I'm so sorry. _She cried softly to herself before slowly getting to her feet.

She could feel the muscles aching in her legs as she stood straight with her shoulders hunched and her short pink locks hanging in front of her eyes. She slowly pushed her remaining chakra around her body, feeling out how much she had left. She barely had any chakra left after trying to heal Naruto, but she didn't need much for what she was planning to do.

She couldn't just leave everything to Kakashi-sensei. She knew deep down that if he were to kill Sasuke he would never forgive himself. And now that Naruto was gone, Kakashi-sensei didn't have the privilege of drowning himself in his own sorrows. This was war and the village would need him once it was over.

Sakura would take care of Sasuke. He was no longer the boy she had fallen in love with and he hadn't been for a long time. Sakura would save him from himself, just like she had planned to do before the war. But this time she would strengthen her resolve. She could no longer rely on Naruto to save her. She would stop being a cry baby and start acting like a real shinobi.

She clenched her hand into a fist and lifted her head to observe the fight between Kakashi and Sasuke while shifting her legs into her usual fighting position. This was no longer about team seven. They were in a war and she sure as hell wasn't going to let him destroy the hope they now had for peace in the future. She took off in a sprint towards the battle not bothering to conceal her chakra because of how low it was.

As she got closer she narrowed her eyes, analyzing the battle scene. She watched as both Kakashi and Sasuke charged each other with their chidori. Despite his outward appearance, Sasuke seemed to have the upper-hand in the battle. Kakashi had already battled and defeated Tobi as well as lead the third division into battle. He looked exhausted, his breathing was ragged and he seemed to be holding his side from a possible stab wound. Sasuke was covered in blood but judging from his regal posture he didn't seem to have as many wounds and if he did, he was hiding them well.

They withdew from each other and both pulled out kunai getting ready to charge again but before they could she saw Kakashi say something before falling to his knees. As Sasuke began to walk slowly towards Kakashi while drawing his katana, Sakura chose this moment to charge into the fight.

She gathered half of her remaining chakra into her feet to increase her speed. She was only a metre away before Sasuke suddenly turned to face her while she was mid-air with her fist raised. He lifted his blade in her direction piercing her through the stomach as she was unable to stop her momentum.

Sakura could feel a numbness in her stomach where the Kusanagi had gone through her. She looked down to judge the damage only to see the cause for the numbness. Streams of white hot lightning were being conducted through the blade into her body, paralyzing her. She looked up into Sasuke's face as the conduction increased to notice he was smiling.

* * *

"Sakura, you're still annoying." He grinned wider at the hurt look in her eyes at his words. She didn't understand and she never would. No one would. They didn't know how it felt to watch your family slaughtered before your eyes. They didn't know how it felt to kill the person you once looked up to, only to find out they did everything they did in order to protect you. It was because of weak shinobi like her that his family were killed. Because they feared the Uchiha's power! Because they were weak, his brother was forced to murder his own clan.

They blindly followed the orders of a corrupt system led by some old bastards who were only interested in protecting themselves and making sure that they weren't threatened. He would change all that. It was time for a new Konoha. He would kill all the elders and then anyone who had been disillusioned by the idea of the Will of Fire. It was a load of crap. And where better to start then at those closest to the Hokage.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sudden tug of his sword. Before he noticed what was happening he was thrust forward and there was a hand reaching towards his eyes. The last thing he saw were determined emerald eyes and then everything went black.

* * *

The first thing she became aware of was the soothing sound of waves. _Hmm maybe the afterlife has a beach. _She immediately brightened at the thought of that. _Ahh…I haven't been to a beach in a while. That'd be quite nice. _

A creaking sound was heard next followed by loud shouting that she couldn't decipher. She also became aware of a light rocking movement. As the memories of what happen came back to her she quickly opened her eyes almost regretting it as soon as it happened. Light directly above her blinded her causing her vision to go white.

"Please keep your eyes shut. I'll turn down the lights so you can open them again." Said a confident masculine voice. Following orders, Sakura waited for the okay then slowly began to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was the softly swaying wooden ceiling. She blinked a few times to clear her vision before turning her head in the direction the footsteps were coming from.

A smiling face greeted her. "We weren't sure if you were going to make it." He said while walking to her. "How are you feeling?" He asked. Her first thoughts were that she must be at one of the other villages recovering. Probably the hidden mist or on the way there judging from the look of the boat. "Thank you. For taking care of me." She smiled. "Are we on our way to Mist?" She inquired.

"Mist? I've never heard of it. We're in the East Blue at the moment. On our way to Foosha Village. The name's Arto by the way. And once we get there you'll be able to get checked over by a proper doctor. Sorry we couldn't do much for you, our supplies on board are limited. Especially since we are just now making our return trip from..."

From that point Sakura had stopped listening. _Foosha Village_. She had never heard of it or remembered seeing it on any of the maps Tsunade-Shishou had made her study.

Her mind began to focus on her surroundings. She studied the man who was still talking to her. _He doesn't look like he came from any of the main shinobi villages. He is quite tanned so maybe he was from a coastal village somewhere. He lacks a headband signifying him as a shinobi and he most definately didn't have the build of one despite his age. _The conclusion she came to was too unreal. So she focussed on something else. The war. He would have had to know about the war. Just as she was about to question him about the war, the door to the room was flung open to reveal a middle-aged man brandishing a sword.

The first thing she noticed about him was that he was missing a couple of teeth and that he desperately needed to shave. He was wearing khaki pants rolled up mid-calf and had on a long loose-fitting blue shirt that was v-cut to show off his chest. In all he looked somewhat poor and sick.

"Pirates!" Arto exclaimed. The pirate grinned stretching his face to unnatural proportions before charging forward towards Arto with his sword. It took Sakura a whole of two seconds to react. She sat up abruptly and pushed Arto back causing him to land on the floor just in time. The momentum from the thrust of the blade at Arto caused the man to stagger forward into Sakura's reach. She lifted herself slightly on the bed, gripped his hand which was still around the hilt of the blade and thrust her elbow into his face. A resounding crack could be heard in the room. The so-called pirate then fell to the floor face first.

She looked over to Arto to check for injuries. He looked fine despite the shocked look on his face. Metal on metal could be heard above deck. Sakura slowly got up causing Arto to come out of his shock. "Wait! Your not well enough to move!" He said while scrambling up to push on her shoulder so she would sit back down. She smiled at him before standing up.

"I'll be right back." She said quietly before making her way out the door and up the stairs to the top of the ship. As she reached the top and came out of the cabin, she analysed the fights that were happening judging most of the fighters to be genin level at best she lifted her hand and whistled loudly so everyone could hear.

Everyone stopped fighting to look at the pink-haired ninja. "If you don't want to die, I suggest you stop fighting now." She glared at each of them. One of the pirates was the first to act. Lifting his gun from his belt and firing at her. Not expecting it, the bullet lightly grazes her left cheek. "Or what are you going to do about it pinky?!" He sneered. Her eyes widened then narrowed in annoyance. Before the pirate could even blink, she was behind him. And all hell broke loose.

* * *

Sakura stood on deck of the ship heading towards Foosha Village. The wind rustled her short rosette locks around her face. The day was cooling down as the sun began to set. She had needed little assistance when dealing with the pirates from the other day. The small scratch from where she was hit by the 'gun' weapon had scabbed over on her left cheek. She couldn't be bothered healing it, in actuality it would just be a waste of chakra.

She had realized after speaking with Arto properly that she was in a place called the East Blue. It was one of the known oceans that made up the known world. He spoke about the North Blue and South Blue as well as the Grand Line and Red Line. By then Sakura had come to three possible conclusions. One, She was dreaming and would soon wake up. Two, She was dead and this was the after life. Or three, which was most likely, She had been sent to another world by the sharingan kamui or at the least, another part of her world unknown to shinobi. Probably somewhere far, far away.

It was obvious that this world was quite dangerous. Unlike the shinobi nations, here you were more likely to die in your everyday life, either by pirates, thieves or some monster from the ocean. She had feigned memory loss saying that all she could remember was her name. Most of the crew accepted this and were still friendly with her, however after what they witnessed earlier some of them were quite reluctant to come near her. Which she supposed was understandable. She did over do it a little.

There were only a couple of holes in the deck. She'd hate to imagine how they would have reacted if she had gone all out. She sweat dropped. _If Naruto were here I bet he could have gotten them to warm up to us._ She smiled sadly. She had been trying to avoid thinking about the deaths that occurred during the war. All of the lives that were lost. She should have been there to help them heal. She was stupid and selfish. If she hadn't attacked Sasuke, how many lives would she have been able to save. She didn't even know if she had accomplished what she set out to do. Was she successful in turning him blind or better yet did she kill him? She had so many unanswered questions and yet her biggest one was still unanswered. What was she going to do now?

She had to make plans. When she arrived in Foosha village was she going to stay there or move? Did she want to try to find a way back to Konoha? Or was she going to give up and just live here? What was she thinking, of course she wanted to return to konoha. It's where her family and friends are. _Well whats left of them_. She thought to herself.

Her eyes saddened further and she could feel a dull throb in her heart. _Why did I survive? Why couldn't it have been Naruto? He deserved to live, to have a life, to become Hokage. After all the pain he went through. _She closed her eyes and remembered her younger days. So many 'what could have been's. If things had been different. She re-opened her eyes to look out at the ocean. But things are different now. She is alive. And he is not. She had to learn to live with that. If anything, she would live for him. She would find a way to get back to Konoha and then she would watch over it for Naruto. After all, it was the place he loved the most. Despite how much the people hurt him once. But first things first, she had to learn about this world so that she could figure out where to go from there.

Sighing, she turned her back to the fading sun and walked to the kitchens where everyone was now eating.

* * *

_6 months later_

Time seemed to be at a standstill for Sakura. For the past 5 months she had worked at a bar in the small village of Foosha while studying everything and anything about the East, South, West and North Blues, Red Line and Grand Line.

Shortly after arriving, she was taken in by the owner of a bar called Partys bar, Makino. Makino had been a very kind and gentle women during her stay with her. She had fed her, let her stay with her, gave her a job and even bought her new clothes. She reminded Sakura a little of Shizune. She was like an older sister to Sakura. Makino had a habit of knowing when Sakura was feeling down and would try to cheer her up but she also knew when to just leave her to her own thoughts.

As well as working at the bar, Sakura occasionally went as a form of guard against pirates on ships exporting goods from Foosha to other villages on the Island. Once everyone had heard about her skill fighting the pirates on Arto's ship she had immediately been welcomed in the village as a new protector. It was strange how welcoming they were despite not knowing much about her background. She felt that the Mayor and Makino had certain theories about where she was from but held their tongues because it didn't matter. She had asked Makino one day why she never asked Sakura about her past or abilities. She remembered it clearly.

_Sakura was sitting at the bar with a bottle of saké reminiscing about days past when Makino came around from the bar to ask Sakura how she was going with her studies. It immediatley reminded her of Shizune when she would ask her in her younger days studying under Tsunade-shishou. The sudden comparison had made Sakura feel guilty for the first time since moving in with Makino. _

_"Makino-san, why haven't you ever asked me about my past yet?" she enquired softly, but her eyes never left Makino's face. She studied the slight surprise in her features followed by the softening of her eyes and the small smile that graced her lips. Makino was truly beautiful on the inside and out. _

_"Sakura-chan, I can see that you're a kind and honest person. I would rather you come and tell me when you're ready then force a lie out of you. When you're ready, I'll be here to listen to you at anytime. 'kay." When Sakura looked down at her sake cup she realized that a few tears had leaked out from the corner of her eyes. She lifted her hands to wipe the tears but before she could Makino had pulled out a handkerchief and did it for her. _

_Sakura was grinning like an idiot. She hadn't cried since she arrived in East blue. "Now, I was speaking with Chiken earlier and we wanted to give you some special tea that's said to help you increase your bust size." Sakura had immediatley scowled. "Way to ruin a moment." Sakura said while Makino just giggled. "Don't worry I'm sure you'll get a little bigger before you leave." Sakura frowned before picking up her sake and downing it in one gulp. She was already almost 18. There was no way she would grow in that department unless she ate a devil fruit that allows you to change your body shape. _

Sakura smiled at the memory thinking about her mentor and how she used to tease her about similar things. It had been almost two months since then and Sakura still hadn't told her story to Makino. She just wasn't sure what to tell the older women.

Sakura stood in a deserted part of the mountain practicing her swings with the kusanagi which she had been found in her when Arto and his crew had come upon her. Despite, not knowing much about this world she had decided to continue training on her own. She had been training with the sword since she arrived in case she ever needed it and working the chakra in her seal back up. She noticed that swords and guns were the preferred method of fighting if you didn't have a devil fruit ability. Sakura was probably fast enough to dodge while fighting hand to hand but she still thought it was a good idea to learn more than one form of combat.

She was wearing a pair of short blue denim shorts with a dark, red, loose singlet while laying on the floor looking at the sky when Makino found her for dinner. The only clothes she had kept from her home had been her gloves, boots and shinobi head band which now rested around her neck. She had decided earlier that day that it was finally time to leave.

She had learnt as much as she could here on this island and she needed to start making more money to better equip her for her trip to the Grand Line. She had a theory that Konoha might be a part of one of the unknown islands on the Grand Line, so she had decided that her first attempt at getting home would be to travel and explore them.

Even if her theory was wrong, she reasoned that she would still be able to find more information there then in Foosha village. However for that she needed money and she wasn't making enough working at a bar. She had decided that she would become a bounty hunter. With her skills she would be able to make enough money to at least get to the Grand Line within a year. She just needed to figure out a way to tell Makino that she was leaving. This would also give her a chance to feel out the powers and ability of people in this world.

* * *

I hope you all liked it. I will be back with a new chapter shortly. Please let me hear your thoughts on what you think so far :) Sorry not much has happened yet but I'll try to get it going soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Revised 14/2/15_**

_Chapter two_

_I do not own Naruto or One Piece._

_Just over a year later_

Sakura sat on top of a roof watching the blue sky. A light breeze gently tickled her face as white fluffy clouds slowly rolled over the town. It had been a while since she was able to just relax like this. She had been so busy the last couple of weeks running after bounties to get enough money to pay for a place on a marine ship that was taking passengers into the Grand Line later today. She forgot what it had been like to just breathe. Closing her eyes she began to meditate. Breathing in slowly before breathing out again. She repeated this a few times before she was interrupted by yelling on the street below her.

She looked down to see what all the fuss was about when she saw a familiar face in the crowd below her. She couldn't quite pin where she had seen this man's face but it was getting on her nerves. She watched as a man, around his mid to late twenties, quickly stepped into the alley between the house she was sitting on the roof of and the house next to her. Curious, she watched him as he pushed himself against the wall to become one with the shadows.

When Sakura first began bounty hunting, she had only taken the job to get some quick cash. However, after hearing about some of the things that some of her bounties had done, let's just say she had become quite fond of prolonging her jobs. Sakura narrowed her eyes as the man slowly pulled something out of his pocket. She tried to lean forward to get a better look at what he had.

She could tell he was a pirate or thieve judging from his appearance and the sword and gun attached to his hip. Not a minute after her closer examination of him did she see a couple of marines run past looking for someone when it suddenly clicked where she had seen him. She quickly looked around to judge how far behind _He _was. Judging from the level of noise she decided he was only a few blocks away.

Not wanting to give up on some extra spending money that could be spent on more weapons and her trip later today, Sakura slowly stood up, and as quietly as a professional ninja could, she began to walk down the side of the house with chakra infused feet. Stopping about a meter above her next target. She decided after a few seconds of internal debate that she would get this over quickly so she could save her strength if she needed it later on.

Slowly, pulling the Kusanagi out of her belt, she took another step forward before releasing her chakra, dropping next to her bounty and hitting him on the head with the hilt of her blade. Knocking him out successfully, Sakura smirked before quickly pulling papers out from her back pocket and flicking through them. After finding the one she was looking for she put them back into her pocket and waited.

* * *

Captain Smoker sat at his desk going through his paper work for the day. There had been a problem earlier with a couple of pirates who thought they could stop by his town for a stroll. Ha! He took care of that problem quickly and efficiently. Like always. They should know by now that no one gets away in his town. Despite how he looks, Smoker couldn't think of a better way to spend his time than hunting down and beating pirate scum. He didn't really know where his desire to become a marine came from. He was pretty sure it started the day he watched the execution of Gold Roger.

He couldn't stand that man. He remembered perfectly what happened that day. How he walked up to the platform, head held high. He remembered how his last words rang through the air after his life ended. At that moment, he knew there was a change that would happen that he didn't like. He was only a kid back then, but he could still feel it. The buzzing in the air and then the whispering that started in the crowd that turned into shouts. Roger was an antagonist. And he hated antagonists. He could still remember his last words.

_A small boy no older than twelve ran through the gathering crowd of strangers to get a better view. He looked up at the execution stand as the world's worst criminal walked up to the steps to his death. He held his breath as he took in the way the man held himself. It was almost as if he wasn't afraid of anything. Maybe he had planned to be saved by his crew. He looked through the crowd to see if he could see anyone from the bounty posters. But just as he did, Roger reached the top of the execution platform. Silence fell over the crowd as he began to talk. "If you want my treasure…"  
_

The sound of knocking interrupted his thoughts. "Enter!" he said. He watched as his lieutenant Tashigi entered his office to stand at attention. _Tsk! Always so formal. _He thought whilst quietly observing. "Captain Smoker! A pirate ship has docked at the port sir. They consist of two bounties of less than 15,000,000 bellies sir. What would you like us to do?" He thought for a moment before standing up and moving towards the door.

"Tashigi, prepare a squad for me. I'm going hunting." He said as he opened the door. A quiet "yes sir" could be heard as he walked off with two lit cigars in his mouth. As he walked to the docks he watched as a number of his marines chased one of the pirates within the city. He decided to follow them.

He would never admit it but he made sure to look out for those under his command. He made it one of his responsibilities to make sure that as many of his soldiers came back as possible. He knew of a lot of higher ranking marines didn't care for their foot soldiers but he had honour and pride. And his honour dictated he took care of those under his command. He wasn't naïve thinking he could save everyone, he knew people died. But that didn't mean he would just sit back and watch while it happened.

As smoker followed his marines chasing the stray pirate, he couldn't help but think he was getting old. He started to speed up, turning his legs into smoke. _Nah there's still plenty of life left in me. Heck, if those old admirals can still fight then so can I. _He smirked to himself as the exhilaration of the hunt began to take over. That was until he heard it.

"You shouldn't smirk like that when your alone Captain Smoker. It's creepy." And that was all the indication he got before a body was thrown at him from a dark alley way. He quickly turned his whole body to smoke before the unconscious pirate could collide with him. A loud thud was heard behind him. He turned to look at the damage done to see the pirate now lying crumpled on the floor. He turned back to glare at the woman walking out of the shadows with laughter in her eyes.

"Do you usually spend your time in dark alleys? Or are you just following me?" He smirked when he saw her small blush at what he implied. She had long pink rosette colored hair that was tied in a low pony tail that reached her mid-back and bright apple-green eyes. She was wearing a white round-neck singlet that dipped a little low over her modest cleavage with a red button up shirt opened over the top that reached to her elbows. Hanging around her neck was her usual red head-band. He slowly looked down taking in her black denim mini shorts and black combat boots that reached just below her knees. Like usual her black gloves were on and her long sword was being gripped tightly in her hand.

He looked back up to her face to see her bright green eyes now glaring at him. His attention was then brought to the small purple diamond tattooed on her forehead. Since meeting her, she had never told him exactly why she had that tattooed on her head of all places. All she had said was that it was a symbol of her determination.

He had met Sakura at the Gold Roger Bar one day when he went there following a rumour about a new pirate in town. Only pirates who thought they could do whatever they like went there. That's why the dodgy establishment was nearly broke. When he entered that day, he found her sitting at the bar. He walked over to her assuming she was the pirate he was looking for and stood beside her.

_He didn't particularly enjoy hurting women even if they were pirates but his attempt at intimidating her failed as all she did was look up at him and raise an eyebrow before looking back down to her drink and gulping down the remainder. As she put it back down on the table she immediately ordered another two bottles from the bartender Raoul, who immediately complied. He had a look of pity and amusement in his eyes when he looked at her. I thought though that the amusement was more at my situation then hers. _

_When he returned with the sake bottles she slid one in front of him and said, "Marine-san, sit down and have a drink with me." He was a little surprised to say the least. Never had a pirate asked him to drink with him let alone one who looked barley older than fifteen. Then again she didn't look much like a pirate. Well except for the sword at her side. But then again, looks could be deceiving. As if reading his mind she said "Don't worry Marine-san, I'm a bounty hunter. Not a pirate." She assured him. Glancing at her with a look of disbelief she immediately went on the defensive. _

_He remembered it clearly like it was yesterday. She pointed to the ceiling and there hanging above them on the rafters, was the pirate he had been looking for tied up with his mouth duck taped. He glanced back down at her and noticed a small twitch on her lips. She pushed the small bottle towards him again. "Are you even old enough to drink?" He asked her, before sitting down next to her. "When are you not old enough to drink?" She replied. "Sakura" she said nodding her head in his direction. "Smoker" he replied. _

The night ended with half of his men drunk off their faces after challenging the Pinkette to a drink off. All of them out-drunk by a girl half their size. The night only ended once Tashigi came by in a search to find where all her men went missing after she asked them to find their captain.

That was two months ago. Since then she had been coming in to the head quarters dropping off bounty after bounty. They had formed somewhat of a friendship though he knew she was more pirate then marine. "Are you alright Smoker-san? You know they say your memory gets worst with old age." She quipped. His eyebrow twitched before turning to head in the direction of the port. "Tashigi should be in the office if you want to collect the bounty on that one." He tilted his head towards the man on the floor who was now groaning before walking away.

"Hai Captain Smoker!" She said while smirking.

Sakura smiled softly as she watched Captain Smoker walk away. He reminded her somewhat of Kakashi-sensei. He was resilient in some ways like him and had an overly dad-like aura. She almost giggled at that. What would Kakashi-sensei say if he heard that. He'd probably say something like '_I'm more of a favourite uncle'. _She sighed, before turning and making her way to the marine base and then the arms store to pick up her weapons before leaving.

* * *

Sakura stood with her back to the door waiting for the man to come back with her order. Around 2 months ago she had put in a special order for a sheath to be made specifically for the Kusanagi as well as extra Kunai and Shurikan. The latter was the hardest to obtain as well as the most expensive. The production of them was low in the East Blue and they took longer to actually restock. Waiting patiently, she walked over to the wall to lean on and closed her eyes. She began to feel out the chakra signatures of everyone in the shop. She could feel the small signatures of the owner and his wife in the back of the store. The wife seemed slightly agitated while the man seemed somewhat excited.

Exiting the back room the man returned with a large grin on his face. He placed the box of Shurikan and Kunai on the bench and moved them to the side before placing a long wrapped up object, which she assumed was the sheath, in front of her. Before he could reach to undo it, Sakura grabbed the sheath, allowing the wrapping to fall to the floor. She placed the sheath back on the bench in front of her while she removed the Kusanagi from its current sheath which she deposited on the ground, to lean against the bench. Picking up the new sheath, she stepped away from the man, raised the Kusanagi then re-sheathed it in it's new one. She held the long sword while sheathed in front of her examining its design. It's newest design didn't suit it as much as its first one from when Sasuke had it did, but it was pretty none the less. Deciding to test it out, Sakura put the sheath into the belt in her shorts, stood in place and drew her sword as the store owner watched.

Happy with her latest purchases, she placed the Kusanagi back at her hip, payed the owner, grabbed the boxes from the counter and left the store not before making eye contact with the man currently walking into the store. _Green _was her last thought as she left the shop and made her way to her temporary accommodation to get ready to board a ship to the grand line.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter :) Thank you for reading. We'll get more action and fighting in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

So I want to thank the first 3 people who added my story to their favourites and are following my story. So Thank you so much! I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Also I have gone back to change a couple of things in the first chapters. Just small things like the reward on the bounties. I hope you all continue reading :)

**Revised 18/2/15**

I do not own Naruto or One Piece.

Home

Chapter Three

_Blood soaked through her clothes as she ran and ran, passing her comrades who lay unrecognizable on the ground. Bodies lay at odd angles with faces twisted into looks of pain and fear. She blinked back the tears in her eyes and continued on. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. It was like a mantra in her head that kept her eyes open and her legs moving. Nothing else mattered. He had to be alive. The war had taken its toll on everyone, but Naruto had always guided them to the light. He was always in front of them leading the way so that the rest could follow. _

_She could see two silhouettes engaged in battle. Sparks were flying as kunai clashed and the clang of metal could be heard in the air. As she drew closer her heart began to beat harder in her chest. No. She looked around the clearing, trying to find any sign of yellow or orange. Not ten metres from her, buried upright under smaller pieces of debris was Naruto. His blonde hair was covered in blood and his face sported dark bruising on the left side of his face while blood leaked from his mouth. "Naruto!" Sprinting to his side but careful not to cause him any further injuries she began to unbury him. Naruto! Tears began to stream down her face. Naruto! Nar…_

"…uto!" She sat upright in her bed. Sweat coated her body and dripped off of her nose. Her breathing was shallow and irregular as she clenched the sheet in her hands. She began to slow her breathing until it returned to normal, before laying back down on the mattress.

It had been a while since she had dreamed of that day. Usually her dreams were of their younger days together when team seven was still together or of her days with Ino. Closing her eyes Sakura waited for darkness to take her. A few minutes later she decides it's futile and gets up and dresses. She grabs her sword and new weapons pouch and leaves the room.

After quietly climbing the stairs she reaches the cabin leading to the top deck. Opening the door she is hit by the all-consuming scent of salt water. Slowly making her way to the side rails, she leans back against them then slides to the floor. A couple of marines glance at her before looking away after she smiles at them. It has been 56 days since they had departed Lougetown. They were lucky they left when they did because a storm had hit the famous town not a few hours later.

Tilting her head back to lean against the rail, she opened her eyes to look at the stars. It still surprised her that the star patterns were so different to her own lands. A sudden chill ran down her arms. The sunny days and chilly nights had been reminding her of spring in Konoha lately. She remembered when her and Naruto would sit on top of the Hokage Mountain and watch the sunset. The memories brought a soft smile to her face.

"_Ne Sakura-chan," She turned to look at her blonde team mate who she thought of as a brother. "Do you think I'll make a good Hokage?" he looked at her seriously as if trying to judge her thoughts through her facial expressions alone. She was surprised that Naruto had these doubts, especially since he was always so determined. It was unusual to see him so solemn._

"_I mean, you know, I couldn't even bring Sasuke back! How am I supposed to protect everyone when I couldn't even save one friend?!" He turned to look back at the setting sun with a sad expression. It seemed to be like that whenever they spoke about him now. _

"_Naruto" She said softly while looking at him. Originally she was planning on saying something to lighten his spirit but the look in his eyes told her he was seriously doubting himself. Sakura may have been doubtful in her own abilities but she wasn't about to let Naruto second guess his own too. She frowned. He was one of the few people she would follow anywhere no questions asked. _

"_Naruto," she began again. "You are one of the strongest people I know." Looking back at the sunset she continued. "I'm not just talking about power either. Your compassion and kindness towards others despite how people have treated you in the past, your determination and will to grow better to protect the people you care about and the village you love. These are all the things I admire about you. You make people want to follow you Naruto." She smiled at him and looked at him again. _

"_I think you will make a great Hokage." She watched as a couple of tears rolled out of his eyes before he grinned. "Arigatou Sakura-chan!" He beamed before crushing her in a hug. As she struggled to breathe she couldn't help but smile. _

Sakura opened her eyes to look at the stars again as tears slipped from her eyes despite her smile. It was memories like these that kept her going. Kept her determined to find a way home. A sudden shout caught her attention. Loud bangs were heard and in the next minute two huge explosions had rocked the ship.

Standing quickly, she ran to the side to see what was going on while many of the marines ran around putting out fires and trying to fill in holes that were now letting water into the side of the ship. She spots the ship that attacked them immediately about 50 meters off the starboard. How they managed to get that close without anyone noticing she didn't know but rushed to help.

She ran to the bottom deck of the ship where the leaking had started. Putting the Kusanagi in her belt she picks up several large pieces of wood and a hammer, she begins to try to cover the leaks but before she can even finish another explosion rocks the ship knocking her down and multiple gun shots and fighting noises can be heard on the bridge.

She looks to the marines next to her who are furiously hammering nails into the walls of the ship. Deciding that they are okay she decides to go to the bridge and help in the fight. These pirates had some gall to attack a navy ship head on.

Reaching the bridge, Sakura is immediately put on the defensive. At least twenty pirates had boarded the marine's ship and were engaged in battle. Another ten seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and split up. Four of them charged at Sakura obviously viewing her as less of a threat.

She stepped to the right as a man slashed his sword downwards at her. Taking advantage of his momentum she steps forward, grabs his out-stretched arm and slings him around into his comrades, knocking them over before throwing him overboard with a loud "shannarou!"

As soon as they are out of the way replacements appear. About ten men brandish their swords and all yell while charging at her. She jumps high avoiding the first man's blade and kicks him in the head propelling herself into a back flip, skidding to a halt an extra meter away from them. She sends chakra to her feet as she engages the next man, dodging his strikes she sees an opening and sends chakra to her fist hitting him in the stomach. He coughs up blood while flying and colliding into two of the others behind him.

She drops into her defensive position, legs bent and apart facing side along. She brings up her front hand and motions for them to attack her. They begin to circle her. When the first one attacks her she drops low and sweeps him off of his feet. Rolling away as two of them try to strike her she pushes herself onto her hands and kicks her legs out into a splits position using chakra to send another two flying. Having had enough of the hand to hand, she decided to finish the fight faster. Surprising them by jumping up onto the rail, she uses chakra to hold her in place and she makes the hand signs for a Water dragon jutsu.

She feels the pull on her chakra as the water behind her forms into a dragon at least two meters above her current height. The looks of fear on the pirates faces make her swell with pride as she unleashes it on them, sweeping them and many others on the bridge over the sides of the ship. She breathes a little in relief but before she can jump off the rail, several bombs hit the boat and she is thrown backwards into the ocean.

* * *

Sakura lay on a piece of wood that probably used to be from some part of the marine ship she was on. Her nose had gone a shade of red from the constant glare of the sun. And her red short shorts hadn't done much for her legs either. As much as Sakura wanted to use her chakra to heal her sun burn, she knew she had to keep it in case more of those monsters showed up.

So far, she had been attacked three times by sea kings. The first one had surprised her mainly because she had completely forgotten about them and had been caught off guard. After her initial shock wore off she had used her chakra to run on the water towards the beast before launching herself at it and performing a series of kicks that left it unconscious in the water. The next two that had approached her bore similar fates.

That had happened two days ago and she was now lying on her back having rolled over to distribute the suns glare evenly on both sides of her body. Her stomach grumbled loudly. Oh what she would give to have some food right now. A soft splash about 30 metres to her right brought her attention away from her thoughts of food.

_Looks like it's time to teach some more monsters a lesson. _She slowly stood up on her piece of wood so as not to overbalance herself as she waited for it to appear. As it's head began to rise from the water only ten meters on her left, she couldn't help but begin to wonder if they were edible. After all, a lot of sushi dishes involved raw fish. She didn't know any fire jutsu so she wouldn't be able to cook it. Even if she did know some fire jutsu, she wouldn't want to risk her little raft boat. It was all she had left on her besides her weapons. She didn't even have any of the money she had earned whilst bounty hunting.

Anyways, there was no harm in trying it. She groaned as her stomach began making noises again. Determined to at least see what it would taste like, she narrowed her eyes and licked her lips at her next meal. The giant beast looked back at her with its red eyes and began to snarl in warning. She narrowed her eyes further and began to walk on the water towards the sea-king. The sea-king snapped its teeth at her and charged forward. Sakura smirked and launched herself at it whilst propelling herself high enough for it to miss her, she quickly drew her long sword. She pushed her body into a series of spins with her sword, cutting into the neck of the monster. Blood pooled into the surrounding water as she caught a part of her meal. Just as she was raising her sword to cut a piece off the carcass, another appeared.

Sakura evaded quickly and watched as the newest sea-king caused her almost meal to sink to the bottom of the ocean. She glared at it, her mood turning sour. The sea-king dived back into the water, disappearing from her sight. Sakura could still feel its chakra though and threw herself out of the way before it could eat her. She narrowed her eyes and jumped on its back before it could dive under again. Running up the snake like creature, she brought her chakra laden fist down on its head, cracking its skull.

She jumped onto the water again as she watched it sink with a smirk on her face. _That's what you get for messing with me! shannarou!_

* * *

Lying on her stomach again while on her piece of wood, Sakura debated with herself about whether or not she was acting sane trying to eat that sea-king. As hungry as she was, she really shouldn't have risked it. What if she had gotten food poisoning? She definitely would have died out here by her self. And why hadn't she thought to research this stuff while she was able?

Turning her thoughts to more morose topics, she wondered how everyone was doing back in konoha. She wondered if Tsunade-shishou was still Hokage or if Ino had gotten married. Has Hinata-chan moved on from Naruto after his death. Everyone knew that the eldest Hyuga was in love with Naruto. You would have to be Naruto to not be able to see it. The thought saddened her. She closed her eyes and imagined her home village. She was sitting at Ichiraku Ramen while Naruto was sitting next to her on his fifth bowl of Ramen already. Sai had just arrived with a new nickname for Naruto. Laughing she turned to smile at her sensei who had just arrived with his usual green book covering his face. Sakura sighed as her heart lurched.

Sitting up to turn over again she caught a glimpse of something in the distance. Squinting with her hands held over her eyes, she tried to make out the shape. She realised she only really had two options. Either it was a boat with people, pirates or marines. Or it was another sea-king. Either way she would finally get food.

As it drew closer, Sakura could tell that it was in fact a ship. A pirate ship. Not wanting to scare anyone away with her chakra abilities, she decided to wave to them and call from her bit of wood. All of a sudden she heard shouting back and what looked to be a spear heading her way._ What are they gonna do, hit me with a harpoon._ She thought sarcastically in her head. She was about to jump out of the way, when she realized that it wasn't in fact a spear, it was an arm. Standing still, the arm wrapped around her and all of a sudden she was flying through the air towards the ship.

* * *

Luffy was sitting in his favourite spot on the Going Merry when there was a shout from Usopp in the crows nest that he could see something. Excitement bubbled in his belly. It had been a while since something exciting happened. Standing on Merry's head, he began to squint to see if he could see what it is. It looked like a tree. A tree with pink flowers and arms. How awesome! His eyes turned into stars.

"Nami! Let's go get that tree!" He shouted while pointing at the object in the water. "We don't have time to waste Luffy! Vivi-chan needs to be in Alabasta as soon as possible! We don't have time to fool around!" She yelled.

Luffy pouted. He was just curious. It's not often you find moving trees in the ocean. Sudden shouts drew him from his depressed aura. "It's a girl!" Usopp shouted to everyone's surprise. At that Sanji stood and walked to the side to look out at the girl. Once confirmed he immediately shouted to turn the ship to "save the fair maiden". Luffy was about to grin when he noticed the look on Nami's face. Thinking it easier then turning the ship around, he bent his knees and shot his arm out to get the girl with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

If Sakura wasn't a shinobi she might have screamed. As she flew towards the ship she braced herself for the impact. Upon landing, she had crashed into the owner of the arm. Knocking them into the mast behind him. With a grunt she untangled her self while she heard several shouts that she didn't quite catch. Soon she was being lifted out of the mess of limbs, well, one really long limb, to stand up straight.

Glancing around she made quick observations of the people around her. A man with blonde hair and _are those curly eyebrows?_ and a cigarette in his mouth stood smiling at her. He was wearing pants and a black suit with a striped blue shirt under that was unbuttoned a bit low with the arms rolled up. Next to him was a girl with orange hair wearing a brown skirt and a pale yellow singlet. On her left shoulder, Sakura noticed she seemed to have some sort of tattoo.

Next to her was another girl with long blue hair wearing a long skirt and a long sleeved white shirt. What surprised Sakura the most however was the large duck standing beside the girl. Sakura quickly looked around to take in everything else. A pair of over-sized weights lay carelessly on the bridge and sitting not too far away from them was a man wearing long dark pants with a white t-shirt that opened to reveal a bit of his chest. But most surprising was his hair colour. It was green. _Green. _Just as she thought that someone spoke up from behind her.

"Pink!" Sakura glanced behind her to see a boy probably fifteen or eighteen at most, sitting in a cross-legged position staring at her with a grin on his face. For some reason he looked extremely familiar. Like she had seen him before.

Not wanting to insult anyone, Sakura turned to face everyone to speak. "Thank you for helping me." She said with a bow. Taking this as their queue to start asking their questions Sakura began to get overwhelmed. "Whats your name?" "How old are you?" Where are you from?" "Is your hair colour natural?" "What happened to you?"

Feeling a bit faint Sakura decided to sit down on the floor to answer the questions. Once she had seated however, she noticed something she had missed earlier. There standing behind the girl with orange hair was a small dear. Sakura's thoughts of food immediately resurfaced. Without taking her hungry eyes off of the deer, Sakura began to speak again.

"Hi, My name is Sakura. I'm nineteen years old from East Blue and yes, my hair colour is natural." Still staring at the small dear that was eyeing her warily she continued on. "Do you often keep live stock on your ship?" She questioned. A silence followed before a squeal was heard from the little deer and loud laughing from the boy sitting next to her.

* * *

Nami and Usopp face palmed while Vivi looked on with horror and Zoro and Sanji both smiled. Well Zoro's was more of a smirk. They all began to introduce themselves to Sakura. Her story was pretty incredible. Zoro and Nami were still slightly suspicious of her though. Once the introductions were done, Sakura's stomach grumbled loudly and a blush decorated her face. Sanji led her into the kitchens to make her some food and the rest excluding Usopp who was on watch, followed.

* * *

Hey everyone I hope you liked this chapter :) Hopefully Ill be able to upload another one in a couple of days.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone sorry for the wait. I hope you like the fourth chapter

**Revised 14/3/15**

I do not own Naruto or One Piece

Home

Chapter Four

The sound of voices and laughter filled the dining room while everyone ate. Sakura watched on amused by the antics displayed by the Straw Hat Pirates. She had become quite fond of them since they found her two days ago.

Luffy was stealing food from everyone's plates while Usopp tried to stop him. Nami was telling Zoro how she was tripling the interest of his debt owed because she caught him taking fruit from her tangerine trees, while Sanji was talking to his beautiful 'Vivi-swannn" and Chopper was laughing at something Usopp said to Luffy.

They really were a strange bunch but they worked. Even Sakura could see how strong their bonds are. She had wondered how it was Luffy could have brought them together like he did but it didn't take her long to realize what it was.

It was almost like everyone gravitated towards Luffy. The same way everyone in Konoha did for Naruto. He had an ability that made people want to follow him. It was his faith in himself but also the faith he showed in his nakama. And the way that he wore his heart on his sleeve. Luffy was a bit more childish than Naruto but Sakura could definitely see the similarities.

Sakura had just finished molding chakra and meditating at the back of the ship but now stood with everyone on the deck watching the interactions of the crew while smiling softly. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were fishing off the side of the ship while Zoro and Sanji were bickering about something that had happened on an island they visited called Little Garden.

Apparently they had a contest and the winner was supposed to be decided by who brought back the biggest animal to cook. According to Usopp it was quite close and could have possibly been a draw. Of course Sanji believes that his was the biggest while Zoro believes his was. Thus the arguing began. Which had led to insults.

Sakura listened amused while insults were given back and forth,

"Shitty Bastard!"

"Dork Sanji!"

"Marimo head!"

"Pervy cook!"

At this point Sanji was slowly stalking towards Zoro. "Dumbass swordsman" "Idiot eyebrows" It had now escalated so much that Zoro was about to draw one of his swords while Sanji looked about ready to kick him in the head. I watched on amused by their theatrics until Nami came and smacked them both on the head telling them to shut up. The evil aura omitting from her could probably put her own to shame.

The way these scenes played out reminded Sakura of her genin days on team seven. _"Bastard!" "Dead last!" "Urusai!" _echoed in her head as she remembered a similar memory with team seven. She smiled softly and a little sadly. Sasuke and Naruto were always fighting about anything and everything they could. They were what Rock lee had dubbed 'eternal rivals'. Sakura was always forced to play mediator between the two when she wasn't fawning over Sasuke and Kakashi didn't feel like giving a helping hand.

What happened in the end to team seven wasn't entirely her fault. She knew that. And yet, if she had been stronger and thought more seriously about her training then maybe, just maybe, she could have stopped Sasuke from leaving that night. Maybe, she would have been able to protect Naruto from the burden he had to carry.

"Are you alright, Sakura-san?" Sanji asked concerned.

Sakura's gaze returned to the people in front of her who all held expressions of interest, curiosity and concern.

"Hai, Sanji-san. I'm fine thank you. Just thinking about old memories." He raised his eyebrows at this as he watched her smile softly.

"Ahh, I remind you of an old boyfriend perhaps?" He questioned hopefully.

Sakura looked surprised and laughed bitterly. "I would hope not. The last person I ever loved tried to kill me numerous times." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. An awkward silence settled over the group. And she thought Sai's comments were the only ones capable of achieving this reaction. Usopp who had overheard the conversation wanted to question her about her choice in men when Zoro cut him off, obviously sensing her mood decided to change the direction of the conversation.

"So, do you actually know how to use that sword or is it just there for show?" He teased lightly. Grateful for the topic change, Sakura had on her face the expression of someone who had just been insulted. "Would you like to find out?" She questioned. He grinned in reply and told her to follow him.

Standing on the front deck with the members of the Straw Hats keenly watching them, Sakura observed the man standing in front of her. His white shirt clung to him loosely, defining his chest. His arms were well muscled from extensive training as were his legs. He held his sword in front of himself in both hands as he stood observing her.

Sakura took in her surroundings as any shinobi or warrior is taught to do. Her space was limited on the ship which would likely restrict her movements. She wasn't planning on using her chakra too much and instead planned on using her speed to parry him and then wait for an opening to strike him.

"Oi! Oi! Hurry up!" Yelled Luffy excitedly waiting for the fight to start. Well no one ever said he was a patient boy.

"Okay little girl." Zoro smirked as he saw a vein on her head throb in anger. "How 'bout we get this started?" He said.

The two stood equally still in concentration, waiting for the first person to make their move. Sakura had enough and charged forward. Faster than she thought he was capable of, Zoro moved in and parried her block then quickly slashed down at her to which she was forced to block. They continued like this for a while, feeling each other's power level out.

"Oi Marimo! Don't hurt my beautiful Sakura-san!" Sanji angrily yelled. Though he too was quite curious as to how strong his Sakura was. He was then hit by Nami saying something about believing women were weaker than men.

Sakura was blocking one of Zoro's strikes when she smiled sadistically and decided that it was time to add a little something special to her blocks and attacks. She smirked, "let's start taking this seriously, shall we Zoro-san?"

* * *

Zoro was quite impressed by the level of kenjutsu that Sakura showed with her sword. He had started out at a lower level to see where she stood. Not surprisingly, she was able to keep up with him quite well. After that he had started attacking her harder and faster. To which she was still easily keeping up with him.

Zoro had just finished striking at her when their blades connected. He looked at her face and saw her smirk before she said "let's start taking this seriously, shall we Zoro-san?" As she said that he watched as she strengthened her stance and pushed her sword into his further, effectively pushing him back then striking at him quickly.

When she next attacked him her speed had increased significantly and she was able to get closer to him than he was comfortable with. Deciding that he would start to take this seriously he strengthened his own stance and attacked her with more force. He dodged her next strike with a strength and speed that he only showed enemies. If she wanted him to fight seriously then he wouldn't hold back. As he blocked her next attack, he increased the strength in his arms, not giving her any leeway.

Grinning now as he fought her, he slashed side ways to which she bent over. He took this opportunity to unbalance her by next striking down. However, before he could apply his strike she leaned back on her hands kicking one of her legs out at his head to which he was just able to dodge by taking an unsteady step backwards. By the time he was in position to attack her again she was up and ready to defend.

The fight continued until Zoro was able to target an opening she had accidentally left on her right side. As soon as his sword was positioned in front of her gut, the spar stopped and she smiled. He wiped the sweat off his brow as he smirked at her.

"Looks like you do know how to use a sword." To which she smiled. "Yeh, not as good as my fists though." She smiled, before she told him to sit so that she could put some healing paste on his cuts.

Zoro found himself sitting with his shirt off as he watched the pink haired girl put the green healing paste on the small cuts that she had given him during their spar. In truth, he wouldn't have minded letting them heal naturally without the paste, but he had been curious about what sort of substance she would use. Especially since Chopper had come over to examine the paste and question her about it. Besides, he wanted to see if there was anything else the girl was hiding. He could tell that she was holding back during their spar. Of course, he was too, but that was more for the sake of the ship than not wanting to fight her.

Her kenjutsu skills weren't exceptional but he could tell that using a katana wasn't her main fighting form. She left too many openings in her stance but had quick enough reflexes to parry and block. The words she said after their fight were echoing in his head. '_Not as good as my fists' huh. What the hell is that supposed to mean? She obviously has some knowledge in medicine as he could tell from her discussion with the small reindeer, she can stand against him in a one on one sword fight and apparently she's even better in hand to hand. Just who is this woman?_

He was brought out of his thoughts by the pink haired woman who had started questioning him about where he learned to fight and when he began. To which he answered the truth to most questions. When there were questions he didn't want to answer she didn't push him.

* * *

The Straw Hats watched on as Sakura fought then tended to Zoro. They were amazed that she had been able to hold her own against him for so long. Sanji was still thankful Zoro had held back but that didn't stop him from being somewhat jealous that Zoro was able to get that close to her. _Maybe if I get hurt she'll heal me too?_ He thought with his cheeks blazing red as he imagined her putting her special healing ointment in certain places.

Sanji was brought out of his delusions after hearing the questions that Chopper was asking Sakura.

"Ne Sakura-san, what did you use to make that healing ointment? I've never seen one that color before. And it smells different." He commented.

Sakura had heard that Chopper was the doctor for the crew but she was still having trouble believing it. Still, she listed off the plants and seeds that she had used in the paste. She was lucky to have even found them in this world as most of the fauna and flora were quite different to her own. But after some trial and error on herself in the past year, Sakura had deemed it safe to use the similar plants and seeds.

The paste she made was one of the first healing ointments that Shizune-nee had taught to her when she first became an apprentice of the fifth Hokage. It was handy to have on you especially if you had run out of chakra on a mission. Of course she wasn't going to tell Chopper about adding chakra into it to help accelerate the healing process. She had decided that her healing abilities could make her a target to different groups in this world, and although she could pass them off as devil fruit powers, she wasn't going to risk becoming a target to anyone. Her chakra enhanced strength on the other hand looked like a more common ability.

"Zoro-san, you should be able to wash it off later tonight and the cuts should have scabbed over by then. It would usually take longer, but the cuts are only shallow." She stated to him professionally.

"Oh wow! What is that?" Asked the usually aloof captain. When Sakura began to explain the properties of the ointment she was met with starry eyes. "So It's like a mystery ointment!" Luffy stated while grinning.

Nami and Usopp who were standing nearby face palmed when they heard what their captain had named Sakura's paste. _Things never change._ They both thought.

* * *

Later that morning the crew and Sakura were doing their own thing. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were sitting on the rail of the Merry fishing out of boredom again while Zoro was training. Sanji had just gone inside to see if there was anything edible while Nami, Vivi and Sakura were playing a game of cards. Sakura had missed just sitting around and having someone to talk to about random things. Especially when she started living with Makino. It had become routine to talk about one's day and things that had happened that day. Having only interacted with criminals for the past year had made her somewhat lonely. Thus she cherished her interactions with Captain Smoker so much.

Talking to Nami and Vivi was like a breath of fresh air after living by herself for over a year and she was glad that they had become such good friends despite having only known each other for a couple of days. Nami was telling Sakura about how they travelled over reverse mountain. She seemed to have great navigating abilities if this was anything to go by. Her and Vivi did seem like the smartest out of the crew.

Chopper kept stealing glances in Sakura's direction. She had been waiting for him for a couple of hours to come ask her what was on his mind. Just as he looked like he might come over to say something to her Luffy yelled that he had caught something.

When Sakura looked at what he had caught in the heated water she couldn't help but be weirded out. She had seen Kabuki before but never any dressed like this.

He had introduced himself as Bon Kurei. What she found most interesting about him was his devil fruit powers. They were so similar to a transformation jutsu but it felt somewhat different. She couldn't figure it out. She watched as he made copies of each of them before pretending to be them. She noticed Vivi stiffen at a certain person he became but paid it no mind. Just as fast as he was there, his crew had come to collect him.

Sakura oblivious to the way Vivi was analyzing her, was about to walk back to sit down when Vivi spoke to her. "Sakura, what were your intentions when you entered the Grand Line?"

Everyone stopped and listened to what was going on. Sakura noticed the way everyone was focused on her face, especially Vivi. "I was on my way home." She replied with the half truth.

"I thought you were from East Blue?" Usopp questioned curiously.

"It's true that before I entered the Grand Line I was living in the East Blue but it's not my home." This caught everyone's attention. "I'm from an Island that's somewhere in the New World and I'm making my way back." She replied honestly.

They quieted at this until Sanji spoke. "Sakura-san where exactly are you from? Shouldn't it be easy to go home if you live in Grand Line. All you have to do is find an eternal pose that's set for your island. "

Sakura smiled sadly as she said "Konoha is the name of my home village." She paused collecting her thoughts. Quietly deciding what to tell them and what not to. She didn't want to lie to them so she instead settled for half truths.

"Because the World Government and Marines don't have much involvement on our island, there aren't many eternal poses... Plus I didn't leave my home often enough to know much about the New World."

Vivi spoke next as she was curious as to how the people on her home island had been able to avoid the World Government. "Is it a small Island under a Pirate lord?" She questioned.

Accepting this explanation would have been the easiest way to get out of the questioning, but Sakura had a feeling that they weren't going to let her off the hook just yet. She really should of thought about her back up story before she started this journey.

"Umm, no. You see my home has recently been going through some internal conflicts. It's quite complicated to explain...but anyway the government won't get involved... During a battle, there was a man who could send people to different places using a Devil Fruit power I think. He used his ju- power on me and sent me to the East Blue. And now, well, I'm just trying to find a way to get home." She finished. Sakura was never a good liar and from the way she spoke even she could tell that it wasn't all of the story.

They all looked at her and she could see in their eyes that they were deciding whether to trust her. She had given most of them no reason to distrust her, but she knew that her story sounded somewhat unbelievable. Sakura searched all of their faces before her eyes landed on one in particular. Luffy was sitting on the railing of the ship asleep. Every time he breathed out a huge bubble would come out of his nose.

Sakura couldn't help the giggle that came out despite the serious atmosphere. They all turned to see what she was laughing at. Nami got angry and hit her Captain in the head at the same time as Sanji. Just then Vivi turned to face her and spoke.

"Sakura-san, I haven't known you long but I can tell you're a good and honest person. In fact, I consider you a friend. I know you aren't telling us all of your story and I don't know your reasons but I will trust you with mine." She smiled at Sakura and then recounted her story.

In all honesty, it was pretty normal for Sakura. An evil pirate trying to take over a desert kingdom. _Im not sure why you would want to do that. Maybe there's another motive. _She thought to herself. She'd ask Vivi about it later. After all, every Village, Land or Government had their own secrets. Sakura looked at Vivi again as she explained the face that Bon Kurei was wearing was in fact her father's. And that he was likely working for Crocodile and Baroque works.

After explaining this, Vivi looked at Sakura again and asked her what her plans were once they docked in Alabaster. However, before she could reply Luffy had woken up and declared,

"She's going to join our crew!" Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as he announced this. She didn't remember him ever asking her something like this. Suddenly Nami and Usopp were hitting Luffy in the back of the head again and telling him to not just ask people on a whim.

Sakura realized this was just a Luffy thing. And laughed.

"Originally I was set to depart at Water Seven from the Marine ship I was on. But given that its somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, I have time to kill while I look for new transportation." She shrugged after replying honestly. "However, after hearing your story Vivi, I couldn't just abandon you to fight alone. So if you don't mind, I would like to help you."

She smiled at Vivi who smiled back but said, "I couldn't possibly ask you to do this for me Sakura, you'd be going against one of the seven Pirate lords. This could make you a pirate and you may even get a bounty on your head. You might not even be accepted back into your village because of it!" She said.

Sakura looked at her and thought for a moment. Her own village definitely wouldn't care too much. Even though she might be thought of as a pirate she didn't really care. Just like with shinobi, Sakura had come to understand that there were good pirates, bad pirates and lots of gray areas, so she didn't really mind.

She smiled before saying, "A wise person, who I respected greatly, said to me 'Those who follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their nakama, are worse than scum'." She looked at Vivi before saying with a new determination in her eyes "Vivi, I think of you as a friend too and I've decided to help you." Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement.

After hearing this Vivi had tears in her eyes and shakily said "Thank you all! Sakura-san, once we save everyone I'll try to get permission for you to enter our library in the palace so that you can look for any information we have there. Alabaster is one of the oldest kingdoms so we have a lot of information. I can't promise you'll find anything specific about the location of your island though."

Sakura said her thanks to Vivi and that she appreciated the thought. It would only be a couple of days until they reached the coastal town of Nanohana.

* * *

Docking at Nanohana after four days of travelling with the straw hats had made Sakura the happiest she'd been in a while. The first day she had met the Straw Hats was the last day she had actually eaten. Apparently they had run out of food that was stocked on the ship. Sakura took note that they usually ate any sea creature they came across unless it talked, however, having not come across any creatures for a while had shortened their food supply. The first thing Luffy had done when they docked was go to find food, leaving the rest of them behind to figure out a plan.

The Straw Hats plus Sakura had all agreed that the first thing they'd do is go to get food and supplies for the trip. While sitting around waiting for Luffy to come back to the group, Sakura couldn't help but notice the amount of Marines that had increased in the town. They were sitting on the outskirts of the town eating when Sanji pulled out clothes for everyone to change into. Saying that it was for disguising themselves.

Sakura looked at the outfit she held in her hands. It consisted of two pieces of clothing. The top half consisted of a red bikini with long flowing material off the sides and a long white skirt was the other bottom half. It was a dancers out-fit. Sakura felt self conscious for the first time in a while. Her hair was up in its usual ponytail that still managed to reached her lower back.

She turned to look at the other girls before turning to look at herself and blushed. Nami and Vivi filled out their tops fine but compared to them Sakura was just modest. Ignoring the slight pang of jealousy she usually got when she saw girls with assets, Hinata and Ino being the main perpetrators, she looked up to see if Luffy was coming yet.

Vivi was just talking about what her plans were when a commotion caught hers and Zoro's attention. As they noticed the sudden increase in Marines running through the area Zoro grabbed Vivi and pulled her behind their wall. Zoro and Sakura came out to look at what was going on when they saw a familiar figure.

"Hey Zoro! Sakura!" They turned to look at each other then turned around and grabbed everything to run. Sakura could hear Zoro shout "Lose them before you lead them to us baka!" Sakura couldn't help but agree more. Everyone grabbed a couple of bags as they started to run away with Luffy following them. They were about to reach the end of the street when Sakura turned and noticed how close they were to the marines.

She threw the stuff she was carrying to Zoro and turned to get rid of the marines behind Luffy. She turned and started running back towards the marines. As soon as she passed Luffy, she sent chakra to her hand that she folded into a fist and punched the ground releasing her chakra at the same time.

Sakura's control of her punches had gotten better since she started training in East Blue. She watched as the ground trembled below their feet before erupting into a series of high jagged rocks and crevices. Sakura looked up to see the out come of her move only to see her old marine friend.

He stood there impassive, smoking on a cigar as he watched what she would do. Sakura stared at him in shock then grinned and said in her most cheery voice, "Smoker-san it's been a while." He took in the situation then said "I knew you'd become a pirate." He gathered his smoke to use his 'white blow' attack on her but before he could, a man wearing only shorts and an orange hat dropped out of the sky in front of her and yelled "Fire haze!".

The heat from the flames licked her skin as she stood slightly dazed by the heat. Thoughts of another flame in another place circled around in her thoughts before she snapped out of it. Looking at his back Sakura took in the tattoo that was the symbol of one of the strongest pirate crews in the world. The White Beard pirates. Before she could question him about interrupting, he turned around and met her gaze then turned to look at Luffy who was still standing there.

"I'll take care of this, you guys go on a head." He said. "Okay." Luffy responded immediately before grabbing Sakura's arm and taking off with her towards the Going Merry to meet up with everyone else. "Luffy, who was that?" She asked. "That was my older brother!" He beamed. "His name is Ace!"

* * *

Hey everyone I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Please review I'd love to hear your opinions and advice on how I could make this story better :) Also I've labelled this as a romance but I still haven't fully decided on who the pairing will be so if you have any ideas let me know what you think. Hopefully Ill be able to update again by the end of the week. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone! It's been a while. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for all of your feedback, you guys keep me writing!

**Revised 16/3/15**

I do not own Naruto or One Piece.

Home

Chapter Five

Ace watched as his little brother grabbed the hand of his nakama before turning around and bolting from the scene. The display of strength that the pink haired woman had just shown was incredible. Who would have thought that someone so little could cause so much destruction? Then again, it wasn't uncommon to have that much strength even if they are as small as she is. If there was one thing Ace had learnt while traversing the seas, it was that looks can be deceiving. At least he knew now that his brother was in good hands.

He turned around to face his opponents. The ground between them looked as if someone had just dropped a bomb between them. The destruction made by the pink haired woman combined with the aftermath of his flames made this place look like a literal hell. And the looks on the faces of some of the marines was priceless.

Ace smirked before his attention was quickly drawn back to the white haired man who had been preparing to attack Luffy's nakama. As the white haired man raised his arm to send a thick wall of smoke against him, Ace raised his own arm and prepared his own wall of fire. As the two attacks met in the middle red hot flames and thick, white smoke expanded out and upwards, engulfing the battle grounds between them, successfully blocking off both combatants from each other. Knowing that the wall of fire and smoke would last a while, Ace used that moment to follow after Luffy, hopefully somewhere away from the marines.

Arriving at the Nanohana port, Ace jumped into his smaller boat hoping to catch Luffy before he got too far ahead of him. Using his flame-flame fruit to speed the acceleration of his boat, he immediately departed. The flag that was raised at full mast blew proudly in the wind as the small boat sped across the Que. Spotting a pirate ship with the flag of a skeleton skull wearing a straw hat, Ace grinned. That definitely had to be Luffy.

As he began to slow his boat and pull over next to the Straw Hat's ship, Ace listened to the conversation and smirked. "Yeah I would always get my ass kicked but I could beat him now!" He couldn't help but make his entrance. He jumped from his boat mid-sentence. "Just who…" Ace said as he landed on the railing where Luffy was sitting before Ace had kicked him off, causing Luffy to fall flat on his face. "…can you beat?" Ace grinned at his little brother.

* * *

_Sakura stood in the living room brushing dust off of the windows as part of their new year's cleaning. She had only been staying with Makino for a couple of months now and was getting used to living in this village._

_Finishing off the windows she went to move on to the fire place when her duster knocked one of the photos on the window ceil off. She picked up the cracked photo frame and was surprised to see three little boys together grinning. Just looking at the picture you could see the bond between the boys._

_The one on the right had blonde hair and blue eyes and wore a blue coat over pants and had a ridiculously big hat on his head. He looked as if he were about to hit the kid in the middle who was grinning but looked like he had a mouth full of food. It was quite the feat. He had dark hair and a twinkle in his eyes that told of how innocent he was. The one on the left had a scowl on his face and was standing with his arms crossed. He had longer hair then the other boys and he had a light sprinkle of freckles over his nose and cheeks. As she was about to put down the picture the door opened behind her._

_Makino walked in holding a large bag of groceries. She smiled softly when she saw the picture Sakura had been looking at. She went on to tell her about the kids in the photo. Their names were Sabo, Luffy and Ace. Apparently they were quite the trouble makers when they were younger. Sabo has died not long after the photo was taken but Luffy and Ace were now pirates. Apparently it had been their dreams to roam the seas. Luffy, however had planned on becoming King of the Pirates. None of them were related but they treated each other as brothers._

_Sakura smiled softly at the picture again and put it down. It reminded her of her own genin picture with two scowling boys and a smiling girl. Of course, it was always Naruto who had the biggest dream though._

Sakura was brought back out of her memories by a cry of "ACE!" Luffy who had just fell to the floor was now standing with his hands on his hips grinning at his older brother. "Yo. Thanks everyone for taking care of my brother." He bowed his head slightly. "No kidding" Sakura heard Usopp mutter under his breath.

"Luffy, you haven't changed." Ace grinned. He was standing and leaning his back on the railing behind him.

As Sakura payed closer attention, she could see the resemblance between these two men and the two boys in the picture. She looked at Ace and for the first time noticed his state of undress. Her gaze slowly traveled down to look at his abs before immediately returning to his face to notice he was looking at her. Sakura blushed and looked to Luffy.

She turned her head to address Luffy for the first time since remembering Makino's message.

_Sakura was getting ready to leave when Makino-san, the Mayor and Chiken-san had come down to see her off. "Sakura-chan! If you ever meet Luffy or Ace tell them that I said 'Hi and to stay out of trouble' okay!?" She gave a small nod and smile to Makino before jumping into her small boat. "Makino-san, Thank you for everything until now." Makino smiled brightly and gave her a small wave and said "Good luck on your trip! I hope you find what you're looking for." Before Sakura departed._

"Ah, I forgot to tell you Luffy-san, but before I left East Blue I had been staying in Foosha village with Makino-san. She said to say 'Hi and to stay out of trouble' to both you and Ace-san." Sakura looked at them both who were now looking at her.

"Ehhh! You met Makino-nee and never told me?!" Luffy pouted. Ace just grinned. "And how is Makino-san doing..uh..eh…?" "Sakura" She supplied. "Sakura-san?"

Sakura looked at Ace then back up at Luffy. "She was doing well when I left her. That was around 2 years ago now." She turned to Luffy again. "Sorry Luffy, I kind of forgot about her message. After all, what were the chances of actually meeting you guys." Guilt was laced in her words as she replied honestly.

"Maa, maa, It's alright Sakura-san." Ace said for both him and Luffy. The rest of the Straw Hats stood around observing the interactions between the three. They watched as Luffy brightened exceptionally fast and turned towards his brother. "So, what are you doing here Ace?" He asked.

"Eh, you didn't get my message on Drum island?" he replied. "Drum?" Luffy responded while picking his nose with his pinky finger. "Oh never mind. No biggie." Ace said. "Anyways, I'm here for a little task and thought I'd try to meet up with you?"

Ace looked at his brother before asking "What task?" Ace's expression turned grim. Sakura watched as his eyes darkened in a similar way to a certain Uchiha she once knew. "I'm looking for someone who committed one of the worst acts a pirate can in the White Beard Pirate's crew." He paused. "Killing a fellow crew member."

Everyone's expressions varied from shocked to angry to sad. Sakura's eyes saddened in understanding, remembering how she felt when Naruto died in her arms. Vivi interrupted everyone's quiet contemplation by asking Ace where he was heading. "Well there was a rumour about the man I'm looking for in Yuba that I want to check out."

Vivi's eyes widened and told him how that was their first destination to which Luffy asked Ace to join them. Accepting Luffy's offer, everyone was about to do their own thing until everyone took notice of seven Baroque Works ships closing in on them.

Ace sighed before turning around and jumping over the railing of the ship and landing into his own small boat. "I'll deal with these guys before we go." He said before he took off towards the larger ships. "What! Is he crazy?" She heard Usopp say. Luffy just laughed and said that Ace was strong. Sakura watched in curiosity. Waiting to see just how strong the man really was. She knew that Ace was a member of one of the strongest Pirate Crews in the world, so she was looking forward to see how he fought.

Before she could even speculate, Ace drew near the ship and all of a sudden jumped off of his small boat using his flame-flame devil fruit powers thrusting himself into the air. Sakura took notice of how the smaller boat that had been carrying him had submerged under the water and came out the other side as Ace landed. The next thing she noticed was the heat of the fire that exploded from Ace's fist as he destroyed all seven ships with one move.

The only other time Sakura had felt heat like this was when the Shinobi Allied Forces had been fighting Uchiha Madara. She looked on with awe along with the rest of the crew. Luffy just grinned as Ace returned. Zoro threw some rope to Ace to tie his small boat to the Going Merry before they departed to the coast again so that they could travel to Yuba.

* * *

With the addition of Ace to the crew everyone's mood had generally improved. _Well, the fact that we have food again has probably contributed to everyone's mood. _Sakura thought with humour to herself as she sat down with everyone to enjoy dinner. Luffy and Usopp were fighting over a piece of meat while Chopper was questioning Ace about the places he and his crew had visited in the Grand Line. Vivi was listening with interest while Nami bathed in Sanji's attention and Zoro sat quietly snickering every now and then when something funny happened or to insult Sanji.

Sakura smiled to herself as she soaked in the warm feeling she got from being around so many rowdy people again. She remembered another time when her shinobi family were together having dinner. The feeling was very similar. She had realized that the Straw Hat crew were like her own family in Konoha. They laughed together, cried together and fought together. Sakura couldn't help the frown that came to her face. She had the sudden urge to protect them but she knew she had to return home to make sure everyone else was alright before she could move on properly. She had yet to find any closure for all of the things that happened during the war. Besides, she had promised Naruto that she would protect Konoha for him. She had promised to live the life he couldn't.

She hadn't realized everyone had left until she heard the clearing of a throat. Sakura turned to look around the room and only noticed Sanji, who was just finishing up the dishes, and Ace left. Sanji smiled at her and asked her if she wanted more tea. Sakura looked at her cup and realized it was empty. "It's alright Sanji-san, if you don't mind I'll make it myself. And don't worry, I'll clean up after myself." Sanji just nodded and said "Hai Sakura-san. Good night then." He left the room but not before looking one last time at the couple.

Sakura stood to make herself a cup of tea. "Would you like some tea Ace-san?" She asked. "Ace is fine Sakura-san. And No I'm fine thanks." He smiled. Sakura continued making her tea in the kitchen. Ace studied her as she moved around the kitchen with efficiency. She was obviously used to being in there. As she came back and sat down, Sakura tried to think of something to say.

"So how lo…"

"So whe…"

They started at the same time. Ace chuckled, amused while Sakura smiled a little. "You go first." Ace insisted. "I was about to ask you when you first got your devil fruit powers…" Sakura said. Ace watched as she stirred her tea slowly. "Around 3 years ago. I had just started my own pirate crew the spade pirates." He had a faraway look in his eyes. "It wasn't long after that that me and my crew joined the Whitebeard pirates." He smiled again, softly this time.

"What is Whitebeard like? I hear he's one of the strongest pirates on the Grand Line but that's about all I've heard about him." Sakura questioned curiously. "Hmm, Oyaji is… well he's like a father to all of us. Above all, he's a strong, respected pirate that cares for his nakama. We're like a family. I respect him so much I want to help him become the next Pirate King." Ace answered honestly. Sakura contemplated what to say next.

Whitebeard sounded like any good leader should. It was obvious from the respect that shone in Ace's eyes that Whitebeard was a great leader that has probably earned the trust and respect of all of his crew and others as well. Green eyes met dark grey as Sakura said, "He sounds like one hell of a pirate." before drinking some of her tea. "Yeh he is." Ace said. He looked at her again and smiled,

"Thank you for looking after Luffy, I know he's quite a handful." Sakura just looked at Ace and grinned. "Oh I'm not actually part of the crew, though I can tell he is and I've only been here a few days." Ace raised an eye brow and Sakura just giggled. "Then how did you meet Luffy?" Sakura relayed the story of how she met the Straw Hat Pirates. How her trip into the Grand Line had started and how the Straw Hats had found her. Ace laughed at this. "Luffy has always done things before thinking." Ace had a reminiscent look in his eyes that softened considerably.

Sakura had just finished her tea when Ace put his elbow on the table to cradle his chin in his hand.  
"So… Sakura-san, did you eat a devil fruit to get your abilities?" Sakura was confused a second before she realized he was talking about her chakra enhanced strength.

"Just Sakura is fine, Ace." She smiled before continuing. "That's actually just the strength I built up after lots of training." She decided to tell most of the truth leaving out explanations on chakra because from what she'd heard about the Grand Line, this sort of strength was the norm.

Ace had a look of interest on his face. He took a good look at the girl. She had long pink hair that framed her face. It was currently out of the pony tail that she had it in earlier. She had bright green eyes and a very feminine face. _She's quite beautiful_ he thought to himself. From what he could see of her upper body, her arms that were currently holding her tea cup were well-toned showing that she exercised regularly. But what caught his attention the most was the purple diamond that lay in the middle of her forehead. It was strange in a way but it suited her. Of course he didn't know why someone would get a small diamond tattooed on their forehead.

He had met many people who were naturally strong but not many were women who didn't get their powers from a devil fruit. Old man Garp was one of the people he knew who was insanely strong with no outside influence. To think the power she had was all from training. He briefly wondered if she was able to use Haki. He had felt something when she had stopped those marines earlier but he wasn't sure if it was Haki or not. Leaving to ponder more on that thought later Ace turned back to Sakura and asked "So how long have you known Makino-neesan for?"

Giving him the same explanation that she gave the Straw Hats, Sakura explained how she was found by Arto-san and taken to Foosha Village where she ended up living with Makino-san. Ace had been surprised that she was transported there. He remembered the devil fruit abilities of Bartholomew Kuma. But then again, unless the government or marines wanted her he'd have no reason to be involved.

"Have you ever heard of Bartholomew Kuma?" He asked her watching her reaction. Sakura had been surprised that he would ask her about him. It was quite the topic changer. "Yeh, not much though. I use to be a bounty hunter so I know he's one of the Shichibukai isn't he?"

"Yeh well his devil fruit powers are supposed to be able to move people to different places or something." Ace replied. Sakura had heard of the Shichibukai, but to think one of them have a similar ability to the Mangekyou Sharingan. The level of power these devil fruits could give people were amazing to say the least. Her thoughts were cut off however by Ace.

"You would recognize him straight away though. He's like a giant bear looking guy." Sakura could help but smile at that. The people in this place never stop surprising her. She smiled again as she replied. "The person who sent me here didn't look bear-like at all. He was quite normal looking." She said to him while imagining how Sasuke would look as a bear. Which she giggled at before her mood turned somber as she realized she would never see him again because he was likely dead.

Ace noticed the depressing aura that surrounded her suddenly and sweat dropped down his forehead. He was never any good at dealing with crying women. Not that he had made lots of women sad or anything. Trying to cheer her up in any way he could he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Well if you ever need any help getting home let me know and I'll see what I can find out from Oyaji." Sakura looked up surprised and then smiled at him before replying with a quiet. "Thank you." Then looked up cockily. "I'll hold you to that!" and winked at him. To which he blushed slightly and she laughed.

She hadn't laughed this much in a long time. After that they talked about Ace's travels in the Grand Line. He told her a little about the Whitebeard pirates. And Sakura surprisingly found herself telling him a little bit about the people she had left behind in Konoha. However, after realizing they had been talking for a little too long they had called it a night and parted to go to sleep. They had a long journey a head of them.

* * *

After lowering the anchor of the Going Merry on the Sandora River not far from Erumalu, the Straw Hats departed for their journey to the city of Yuba. They had planned to pass through Erumalu then continue on for two to three days to Yuba.

The sun was still high in the sky when Vivi informed everyone that they were only an hour or so away. Sakura looked around at everyone to see how they were coping. Vivi and Nami had put a long coat over their shoulders to protect their exposed skin from the harsh rays of the sun. While Sakura had also found a long red and white coat to put on to protect her shoulders from the sun. She was extremely glad she had opted to change out of her dancers clothing for more appropriate clothing that actually allowed her to move better without worrying that she'll accidentally flash someone if she were needed in a fight.

Vivi was leading the way next to Nami, Luffy and Chopper. Usopp was walking with Ace and Sanji followed by Zoro and then Sakura bringing up the back. Noticing that Chopper was looking at her again with a questioning gaze, Sakura smiled encouragingly at him as he began to drop back to talk to her again.

Sakura found the discussions and conversations that she had with Chopper most interesting. Sakura had studied a little about the plants and poisons in East Blue and the Grand line while she was in Foosha village but their resources were very limited. Having access to Choppers medical books on the Going Merry has been very informing too. The plants and creatures were so different to the ones found in her own land making her feel like a novice healer again.

Chopper looked at her smiling as he began a conversation about types of treatments for burns, infections and other treatments for different injuries. Sakura lost in the discussion, went to say something to him but was interrupted by Vivi announcing that they had arrived.

Sakura looked around at Erumalu. She wasn't expecting a ruined town. They slowly walked through the desert town. Sakura observed how the buildings had sunken under the sand, the tall palm trees were dead and that the town was fully deserted. She wondered what had happened for a town to end up this way. Especially one known as The City of Green. Vivi turned to face them all and said seriously,

"Looking at this town, you can understand how much the Baraque works organisation has done to this country. And just how much the people of Alabasta are suffering."

Looking at Vivi, Sakura could see how much she cared about the people of her country. As they continued to walk through the town, Luffy was the first to announce his thoughts about the place.

"Wow, there really is nothing here!" He said. Vivi replied, "Yeh, even before its collapse it used to be a city full of green plants and a lively atmosphere. Even though it barely rained in this region, the town would prosper. But it's been three years since any rain has fallen anywhere throughout the entire kingdom."

The surprised gasps could be heard coming from everyone except Ace, Zoro and Sakura. _That was the problem with Desert kingdoms_. Sakura thought. Unless they had another source of water besides rain, then they were likely to perish. But that's what the river would be for. Just as Sakura thought this Zoro had reached a similar conclusion and asked about it.

"But what about the river that we sailed upstream on?" he questioned. Usopp added "Yeh, couldn't you just draw water from the river?" Vivi's eyes saddened.

"The answer to that question lies ahead." She said quietly. As they continued to walk through the town Vivi began to explain the situation to everyone. Apparently since the drought had begun, it hadn't rained anywhere but in one place and that was in Alubarna, where the royal palace was situated.

"People called it the king's miracle." She told them. "Until the day an incident happened."

Apparently one day a cart was taking goods to the palace when it was overturned and the bags holding the goods were accidentally ripped open. In the bags was a product known as 'Dance powder'. According to Nami it artificially forces rain to be produced which is very bad for Desert kingdoms as it had a side-effect of stealing rain from the surrounding areas. She then went on to explain how there was a ban on the use of dance powder because of the break out in wars that have occurred in the past over in regards to it use.

"The amount of Dance powder that was brought through our port and the fact that it was being sent to the palace, was enough to cause the people to lose faith in my father. Especially with the evidence being the fact that it didn't rain anywhere else in the kingdom." Vivi's eyes clouded with memories from the past.

"WHAT THE HELL VIVI! YOUR FATHER IS EVIL!" Luffy yelled pointing at Vivi. Sakura just rolled her eyes as she watched Sanji forcefully explain how Vivi's father was set up. Having reached a road Sanji asked where they were. Vivi explained that it was the canal that drew water from the river that was mysteriously destroyed and became no longer capable of sustaining its water supply. This caused suspicion in the king and people began to migrate to other cities in search of water and food. One by one as the cities became unsustainable to hold the population, eventually they were all deserted and fell to ruin.

After hearing this everyone stopped to listen to Vivi. _The people who were capable of doing this were scary to be able to get away with it_. Sakura thought. They must really strong but then a thought from earlier began to bug her. _Why? What would someone want with a desert kingdom that has no water? Unless it's personal? _Sakura thought to herself.

A strong wind blew through the ruined town as Vivi finished her story. The sound of the wind echoed off the walls of the ruins in an angry screech almost as if the people who had died in the town were crying. Sakura stood strong as the strong wind whipped her coat around her legs and she narrowed her eyes.

"What are those? People's voices?" Nami asked as they turned to look at the town. They all looked around expecting someone to jump out and attack them. Before Ace spoke confidently.

"Nah, it just the wind." Luffy looked at him and said "It sounded like people's voices." "I can hear them all around us." Usopp said in a shaky voice. "Ne what'd we do? Onii-san?" Ace's face turned serious. "It's nothing serious."

Sakura spoke up then, reassuring them. "The winds are passing through the town and reverberating off the ruins." She hadn't noticed Ace come to stand next to her earlier and had been surprised when he spoke.

"It's the city of Erumalu, The city of Erumalu is crying." Vivi said sadly. While everyone looked on while listening to the last whispers of the dying town. A sudden sand twister crashed into them, blowing sand in their faces and whipping their loose coats back and forth around them. Sakura and Ace leaned closer together for support against the raging wind. Sakura opened her eyes, a habit reinforced by Tsunade during her training to never close her eyes, and freaked out a little when she saw what looked like a person in the wind as a sound chimed through the area.

She listened to everyone talk about the voices when she felt Ace drop his hand from her back. She looked up at him and their eyes met. She almost blushed but Luffy called their attention when he saw something laying on the ground. Hopeful voices were heard as they ran to the body. Sakura could already tell that even if there was a body it would likely be dead. Not much survived in the desert.

When she saw Luffy and Vivi stop she knew she had been right. Vivi was kneeling on the ground next to a skeleton. She gently touched the head of the skeleton. Sakura watched her sadly as she asked no one in particular,

"What have my father and the people of this kingdom ever done to deserve this?" She paused. "Taking the lives of the people who have struggled against nature to live in this desert. Why? What right does he have to do this?" Sakura could see her shoulders trembling as her voice shook. "Why?!" She cried. All they could do was look on as Vivi let her feelings of frustration out.

"He acts like a hero of the people as a Shichibukai! And no one realizes that he is deceiving this kingdom!" She says angrily. Sakura watched as Luffy, Sanji and Usopp began walking away.

"I will never forgive that man!" Vivi yelled as she cried.

Sakura watched as the ruins of the City of Green were destroyed by Luffy, Sanji and Usopp. She could here Zoro say "Geez, What kids." While Ace just looked amused. She watched as he bent down and began to dig a hole to bury the body in. When Luffy returned she noticed the change in his expression.

"Vivi!" He said as he rolled his shoulders and clenched his fist. "We have to keep going forward! We've been sitting here too long!" Then he turned and began walking out of the village with Sanji, Usopp and Chopper behind him. "Hai! Let's go to Yuba." Vivi said as she turned to face the rest of us.

"That's where the rebel army is, isn't it?" Zoro questioned. "Yeh." Vivi replied while standing up. "I will persuade the leader to stop the uprising." Both Sakura and Zoro raised an eyebrow at this. "Persuade?" Zoro questioned.

"Yes! All of this has been orchestrated by Crocodile. I'm going to tell them the truth and put an end to this blood shed!" She said confidently.

"Okay." Said Zoro as he began to follow Luffy.

Sakura stood in place an extra second thinking about what had just happened. Luffy was more like Naruto than she thought. His want to jump into situations before taking into account all of the factors. They let their emotions control their decisions causing them to act rashly. Sakura wasn't suggesting it was a bad thing but sometimes, going into a fight with just a belief in yourself and you nakama and expecting to come out victorious resulted in the useless deaths of people. Sakura was about to walk again when she noticed Ace was still standing next to her.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Sakura sighed and started to walk side by side with him. "They're naïve." Was all she said as she sighed again. Ace looked forward and nodded, understanding some of what she was getting at. "Do you think that they can't do it though?" He questioned. Sakura thought about it before she replied.

"No, it's not that. It's just that they aren't aware of the consequences of their actions or the possibility of them failing. If Vivi is unable to persuade the head of the rebellion then what do they plan on doing? Even if they persuade the rebellion I don't think it will stop Crocodile. I have a feeling there is an ulterior motive." Sakura paused before continuing.

Ace watched her face as she voiced her concerns. He noticed the way her eyes softened as she spoke about them and the way her voice quieted.

"It's one thing to be willing to die for your nakama, but it's another thing entirely to die a pointless death that doesn't help anyone." Sakura finished. She couldn't help but think about her own actions in the past. She tried to kill Sasuke twice and all she ended up doing was becoming a burden. Even in the end, Sakura wasn't very useful.

Ace watched a flash of regret and pain surface in her eyes as she said this. He couldn't help but want to reassure her. "You worry too much. Have faith in Luffy and in Vivi. Luffy has a way of over-coming the greatest obstacles."

"Besides," He turned to smile down at her then. "They'll have you there to support and protect them too." Sakura smiled back up at Ace before they continued walking. _Even if she is only with them for this short time,_ _this time, she wouldn't let anyone die._

* * *

Hey everyone I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think.

This chapter followed a lot of what happened in the anime but after the next couple of chapters I'm hoping to be able to change a few of the fights and events that happen.

Because I have quite a few Essays and assessments due in the next couple of weeks, Ill only be able to update once a week. However, once those are out of the way I'm hoping to be able to either update twice a week or just make the chapters longer.

Thank you for reading everyone!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys sorry this took me so long. A lot of stuff happened over my break. Thank you to everyone who have sent in reviews, favourited or begun following this story. From now on I will try hard to update more often.

**NOTE: All of the chapters have been revised and edited. The story has changed a little too. You can either go back and re-read them or I have written the changes below this note. So if you are re-reading them, then don't read further! (The changes aren't that big I suppose)**

* * *

**Changes-**

Sakura is aged 19 when she meets the crew (I realized I didn't add up properly when I first wrote the story). Sakura has only used her chakra strength in front of the Straw Hats. No one knows that she can heal except some people in Foosha. Sakura explains her story better to the Straw Hats and doesn't tell them where she is from exactly or what a Shinobi is. Just that she is on her way home. There have been other small changes but these are the main ones. I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next one will be up in the next couple of weeks.

I do not own Naruto or One Piece.

* * *

Chapter Six

"It's...haah…sooo…haaah…HOTTT!" Luffy yelled out to no one in particular. Sakura couldn't agree with him more. The scorching sun shone brightly down on the wary travellers as they made their way to the city of Yuba. The Alabasta Desert was as bad as Suna's desert if not worst. Whereas Suna probably reached a similar temperature to the Alabasta Desert, it was mostly flat. The Alabasta desert consisted of mountains of sand dunes that would obviously test anyone game enough to cross them.

"Burning up…Sweat…won't even come out…" Sakura couldn't blame Luffy for complaining but she wouldn't deny that she wasn't happy when Nami finally told him to calm down either. Sakura looked around at everyone to see how they were all fairing. She watched the interactions between the Straw Hats as they continued on their way. Chopper was taking it the hardest. He was currently laying on a sled that Zoro was dragging across the heated sand.

"I can't go on. It's too hot. I'm fine with cold weather though…" Chopper said to no one in particular.

"It's 'cause of all that fur, you should take off that animal suit." Usopp replied.

I laughed inwardly at that. Trying to imagine what Chopper would look like if he were to unzip his fur and walk out. _Then again, would that be the equivalent of him walking around naked_? She questioned herself inwardly. She looked to Chopper who had stood up angrily and yelled at Usopp while surprisingly changing forms. "What was that you jerk! And don't make fun of a reindeer!"

_Then again, he wears clothes all the time anyways so as long as he was wearing his clothes without his fur coat he wouldn't necessarily be naked._ She concluded to herself. Happy with her conclusion, Sakura let her thoughts wonder to why she was even thinking about this before she was interrupted by Usopp.

"Ahhh! Bakemono!" He screamed with his arms thrown up in the air as if Chopper would actually attack him.

Zoro who was trying to pull the sled with chopper standing on it in his bigger form finally got annoyed. Turning to look at Usopp and Chopper, Zoro said "Oi Chopper! Don't turn big! Or else I won't pull ya!"

Sakura smiled as she continued to watch the scene unfold between the three young men. She liked the fact that despite the circumstances everyone was able to keep a light attitude, laughing together.

Sakura turned to continue walking but caught site of Luffy, Nami and Sanji arguing and fighting over Luffy drinking too much water. She gave a small chuckle as she walked past Vivi and Ace who held similar expressions.

* * *

_Crimson red blood trickled over the corners of the man's mouth as he tried to heave a breath through his lungs. As its shade darkened to a deeper red on his chin, a new amount of blood would dribble down his chin. This continued until his breathing stopped. She looked at his body with saddened eyes before she stood and moved to the next injured Shinobi within close distance of her person.. _

_The light splashing sound of her sandals as she took her first step towards her next person made her look down. The ground was littered with blood-soaked kunai and shurikkan. The glazed eyes of dead Shinobi stared at the red sky while the cries and screams of those still alive echoed throughout the air with their despair. It was like a scene from a horror movie only this was worst because it was the reality she was seeing._

_A movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention so she moved towards it. A Shinobi with blood stained hair and kunai pierced legs crawled towards her using only their upper body strength. _

_"Sa-ku-ra". She stood there frozen, eyes wide and breathing heavily, watching as he crawled towards her. "Sa-ku-ra". The voice was so familiar but she couldn't place it. She tried to get a better look at his face but she couldn't move. Her body wouldn't respond to her. Her heart beat faster as he drew closer. Her fear rising as well as her panicked breathing._

_As the head of the person tilted up from the ground to look at her all she could see were the piercing blue eyes of the man she had promised to save but couldn't. Her breath caught in her throat as her lungs stopped working. "Sakura" the man whimpered from the pain. "Why didn't you save me?" He crawled closer. "I did everything for you…" Her eyes widened and her shoulders shook as she tried to get control of her movements. "Why Sakura? Why couldn't you save me?" _

_Her breath washed back into her as she whimpered "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Naruto! I'm sorry" She repeated it over and over to the man in front of her as he began to stand and drag his legs towards her "I'm sorry" She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop herself from shaking. She looked to the ground so that she wouldn't be forced to look into his eyes any longer, but all she could see was the blood coating the ground of all of the people she couldn't save._

_ Squeezing her eyes shut she continued to apologize. "I'm sorry!" A sharp pain pierced her stomach. Opening her eyes she looked down and saw the black and silver blade of the Kusanagi protruding from her stomach. Blood streamed to the floor in large proportions as the blade was ripped from her body. Her blood. She looked up and the site that greeted her made her want to scream but nothing would come out. There, lying on the ground not 5 meters from her were the disfigured and bloody bodies of the Straw Hat crew. "You are weak, Sakura."_

Sakura sat up in her bedroll, eyes wide and gasping for air as tears threatened to spill down her face. Sitting up fully Sakura raised her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose hoping to prevent the tears from falling down, only to revisit the images from her nightmare. She could still hear the cries and screams of Shinobi ringing in her ears like the aftermath of being too near an exploding tag. The sound was so familiar.

The nightmare had surprised her tonight, not having had one since travelling with the Straw Hats she had become too comfortable. Calming her breathing and looking around her, Sakura was glad that she hadn't woken Vivi or Nami whom she was sharing a tent with. She sighed and lay down again listening to the even breathing of the other girls hoping to fall back to sleep. As soon as her eyes closed she was assaulted by images of bright crimson and ocean blue.

"_You're weak, Sakura" _The echoing voice forcing he to snap her eyes open again, Sakura sits up and leaves the tent quietly taking the Kusanagi with her.

The cold chill of the desert night hit Sakura's face as she left the tent. Wrapping her coat closer to her body she looked up at the still dark sky. She remembered a time when team seven were camping for a mission and she lay on the grass in between Naruto and Sasuke. Watching as the stars shot across the sky. She remembered it thinking that this had to have been one of the few times she felt truly content in her childhood. _How things have changed since then._ She thought to herself.

Feeling fresh tears trickle down her face Sakura wiped the tears before scaling the rock formations around their camp to do some training. She realized that she hadn't really done much training since she entered the Grand Line. There was never much room on the ships for her taijutsu forms that she wanted to practice so she had been mainly molding and expanding her chakra pools and seal.

Walking to the nearest rock formation that was protecting the camp, Sakura jumped, landing gracefully on the top. She lay the Kusanagi down with her folded coat and began stretching. Deciding that she had stretched enough, Sakura began performing the familiar taijutsu forms that her mentor had taught her as well as some of her own. Breathing in and out in time with her movements, Sakura sped up while making her movements sharper and more precise, imagining an invisible enemy.

After going through this routine, Sakura lay on the ground and looked up at the sky as the stars slowly faded and the light crept up, Sakura turned her head to the side and looked at the sword sheathed on the ground not far from her. Feeling a sudden cold breeze in the air, Sakura stood up and put her coat on then picked up the sword.

Looking down at the sword now in her hand, she couldn't help but feel that she was in a way grateful that Sasuke's sword had made the journey here with her, even if it was lodged in her gut at the time. Over the past two years, the Kusanagi had become a reminder for her. It reminded her of the mistakes she had made in her life, but it also kept her from forgetting the reasons that she needed to become stronger.

In her life, she had made too many mistakes. She relied too much on others to solve her own problems. The burden she placed on Naruto and then when she couldn't kill Sasuke, the burden she placed on Kakashi-sensei. The way she acted when she was younger. She had treated Naruto despicably and probably made Sasuke extremely uncomfortable. The friendship she had with Ino that she had broken over a small rivalry and mainly over a boy no less. She cringes every time she thinks of it.

And there were more things that made her disgusted with herself. She had made so many mistakes. But she had decided in her time away from Konoha that she would learn from these mistakes. She would become strong enough to protect anyone who was precious to her again. She knows that the guilt she felt for Naruto's death will never go away, and she'll probably spend the rest of her life making it up to him. She will never be as good of a person as he was, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't try.

Deciding that everyone would be waking up soon, Sakura jumps down from the rocks she had been training on and walks over to perch herself on a smaller boulder and watches as the sky begins to brighten to a light blue. Not a moment later, a familiar figure joins her.

"You're up early." Ace said while looking at her then looking to the sunrise while leaning on the rock she had been sitting on. "You'll tire yourself out if you train too much."

"How long have you been awake?" She asked, surprised he had been watching her, before they both turned back to watch the sunrise.

Since they'd met, Sakura had become quite fond of Ace. From the short time they have known each other, Sakura had learnt a lot about him as a person and she was kind of sad knowing that he would be leaving soon. She began to think of him as a friend and not just Luffy's older brother. Sakura hadn't met many people she would consider friends since leaving Foosha Village. Being a bounty hunter, she was always moving, never staying in a place long enough to form proper bonds.

"Long enough." He said. Sakura slowly turned her head to get a better look at him only to notice that he had turned away with a slight blush dusting his cheeks which she smiled softly at. She was about to ask him exactly when he had noticed her when she heard Luffy exclaim "Whoa! I found a shrimp!" Alerting them to the movement around the camp. Surprised by his discovery, Ace and Sakura approached him, Chopper and Usopp to get a closer look at this so called shrimp.

"So this is a shrimp? Wow!" Chopper yelled excitedly.

"But shrimp don't live in the desert." Usopp told them. But when Luffy turned holding what appeared to be a shrimp from where they were standing, they heard Usopp say "I stand corrected, it's a desert shrimp."

Ace and Sakura stood there watching while Luffy, Usopp and Chopper discussed the edibility of desert shrimp when they noticed Vivi crawl out of her tent and yell out them about it being an extremely poisonous scorpion. Sakura heard a nervous laugh leave Ace as they watched Luffy randomly toss around the poisonous creature.

Usopp and Chopper of course having more sense, began to move away from Luffy who was still swinging it around before he tossed the poor creature over his shoulder. His only comment being "Aw! So it's not edible."

Sakura wondered if everything came down to food with that kid. Earlier conversation forgotten, Sakura and Ace began to walk back to the group to pack away their own tents when everyone stopped to listen to Chopper saying that he could see something coming in their direction.

Everyone stood waiting for a confirmation that something dangerous was coming their way.

"Well it looks like the wind is picking up." Sakura heard Ace comment casually before Vivi started yelling at them, "Everyone! Hide behind the rocks quick! A sand storm is coming!"

Everyone scrambled to the closest rocks next to them. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were together behind one as they had been standing together. Zoro and Ace moved behind the one's closest to them while Sanji and Nami were together behind one. Unfortunately Sakura and Vivi who had been standing in the middle of the clearing when the strong wind picked up speed, had nowhere to go, so Sakura grabbed Vivi and pulled her to the ground underneath her own body while using her chakra to stabilize her hold on the ground.

It seemed like forever before the sand storm calmed down enough for them to dig themselves out. When they finally reached the surface and with help from Ace and Zoro pulling them out, Sakura realized that they must have been under the sand for a couple of hours judging from the height of the Sun.

Dusting herself off, Sakura stopped midway when she heard Vivi saying "Thank you, Sakura-san for shielding me like that. You know you didn't have to." Vivi said gratefully. Sakura only smiled kindly back saying she liked looking out for her friends.

* * *

Sakura stood with a look of disbelief as she stared at their group's newest companion. Luffy was weird in that way. She thought. Or maybe it was just the luck of the crew in general. After all, they wouldn't be able to understand their newest companion if it wasn't for Chopper too and the fact that he had met him before. From the looks on the faces of the rest of the crew, Sakura gathered that this was a common occurrence.

Standing next to Lashes AKA 'the camel Luffy found in the desert after chasing some birds who stole all of our stuff that is able talk to Chopper', Sakura was beginning to really wonder about the characters in this crew. She stood observing the interactions.

"Sakura-chan! Did you want to get on too?" Nami said to her with a smug look. Sakura couldn't help but smirk back. But still declined the offer. Nami reminded her of her good friend and rival Ino. _They both had a way of getting what they wanted and could easily get under your skin when they wanted too._ Sakura thought. _I wonder what she's doing in Konoha now._ Breaking from her sad thoughts Sakura responded to Nami's question.

"I'm alright, but Vivi can have the last spot." She said while looking at the now bruised face of their newest perverted companion. _As if one wasn't enough._ She thought to herself while glancing at a mad Sanji.

"Ah thank you Sakura-san! But I'll walk for a bit first." Vivi said with a smile.

"Your loss." Nami said as she gave a small tug on the reins now placed around Lashes. Lashes eyes grew into the shape of hearts reminiscent of Rock Lee's during their first Chunin exam. A small dash of sweat dropped from her forehead at that thought and she chuckled at the actions of the pervy camel.

Sakura thought back to how they came to be in this situation in the first place and let out a deep breath.

_Earlier that day_

"It's...haah…sooo…haaah…HOTTT!" Luffy yelled on the second day of their travels as he led everyone in the direction Sakura could only hope Yuba was in. At the sound of a stomach grumbling Sakura turned to face Luffy who looked as if he were about to keel over and die. "I'm so hungry!" He yelled. "Vivi, When can I eat?!" He asked her dramatically.

Vivi, being the kind soul that she is replied "How about at the next rock formations we'll take a break and you can eat then." She smiled again.

Luffy suddenly encouraged, decided to play a game. "Everyone let's play Janken!" Everyone put their hands in as Luffy yelled again "The winner has to carry all the bags."

Sakura looked over to Luffy who was the winner and shook her head with a raised eyebrow as he lifted everyone's bags onto his back. He didn't look too happy.

A couple of hours later, Luffy was complaining again but this time with everyone's stuff on his back.

"Would you like some help with those, Luffy?" She asked politely. Luffy looked at her, his tongue hanging out of his mouth while he panted like a dog that had just gone for a long run and was in need of some water. A determined look filled his eyes before he hefted the bags further up onto his shoulders and said "I'm fine."

Sakura only nodded and continued to walk._ Che! Men. _Not more than ten minutes later, Usopp claimed to be able to see some rock faces in the distance. Luffy squinted as he tried to make out what Usopp was describing. As soon as he saw them he took off in a sprint faster than Sakura had seen from him before.

Sakura could only smile at his sudden burst of energy before continuing on with the rest of the group. As they continued walking Usopp's head suddenly snapped up as he squinted his eyes. "Something's coming this way." He said with a frown. "Is that…Luffy?"

His thoughts were then confirmed as Luffy came to a stop, babbling on about dead birds and Chopper needing to save them.

One look at Vivi and the group knew this story wasn't going to end well. They all ran to where Luffy had seen the birds only to find the location empty and all of our stuff gone. I groaned. _This was the second time I had lost all of my possessions except the weapons pouch and sword I always carry on me. _

"I knew it!" Vivi cried. "Those birds are also known as Warusagi birds. They play dead in order to steal from kind travellers."

Small snickers could be heard from behind the group. They all turned around to the site of a group of white birds with long necks and legs staring at them. Sakura knew that when she was younger she may have had some mental issues but she was one hundred percent sure that those birds were laughing at them. Her eyes narrowed._ There was no way in the world she was going to be made fun of by a bird, _she thought to herself and was about to go after them to salvage what was left when Luffy beat her to it.

Sighing she looked around at her remaining companions. Most of them also held looks of disbelief.

"Well, we may as well sit down while we wait." Sanji said while looking in the direction Luffy had run of into. Nodding to one another, everyone decided to take a seat.

Not long after that their quiet was disturbed again by the feeling of vibrations and a large sand storm in the direction that Luffy went. "What is that?" Nami questioned while hiding behind Zoro.

"It's Luffy and he's riding a camel" Usopp said before letting out a terrified scream as Luffy drew near them and turned around to face what looked like a giant lizard summons. While unsheathing his sword, Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Zoro's reaction to the situation. "What star was he born under to cause so much trouble?"

As Luffy, Sanji and Zoro attacked the giant reptile, Sakura's attention was suddenly drawn from the situation at the front by more tremors moving towards them from behind. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to stand side on so that she could see the situation on both sides.

Feeling whatever giant creature was under them begin to move towards the surface, Sakura turned to face it, noticing that Ace was facing the same way while holding his hat to his head, Sakura smirked.

A giant lizard that looked exactly like the first one burst from the ground not far from where Usopp, Vivi, Chopper and Nami were standing. Suddenly realizing what was happening they began to scream gathering the attention of the others.

Already aware of what was about to happen Sakura jumped into the air, using her chakra to boost herself high enough above the creature before twisting mid-air, bringing down her chakra encased fist on the creatures head. The strength of the attack caused web-like cracks to form beneath the lizard. Jumping back to stand next to Ace, Sakura watched as Ace used his mera-mera devil fruit powers to finish it off by creating a giant pillar of fire.

Sakura turned to look at him while raising an eyebrow. "A bit overkill." She simply stated. To which Ace replied with a smirk. Sakura couldn't help but giggle. "Well at least we have some food now." She said before turning to look at the others when she noticed the camel for the first time.

_Present time_

Ace stood across from his younger brother, the Straw Hat crew and Sakura as he prepared to leave. He had been able to find the person he was looking for and realized that he had nothing to do with Black Beard. The information he was given was a bust. It was time to move on to the next island. He had a mission and he wasn't going to stop until he had completed it. He wouldn't stop until Black Beard has been taken care of.

Breaking from his thoughts, Ace looked over to his brother and his crew again. After travelling with Luffy he was happy that his little brother was in capable hands. They were small for a crew, but they were a close knit bunch that he was sure would look out for each other. Even if some of them weren't as strong physically, they all seemed to contribute in some way. Once they had been together longer, Ace was sure that they would definitely make a name for themselves.

Putting his hand into his pocket, Ace pulled out what looked like two small sheets of plane white paper. "Oi Luffy! I wanted to give this to you." He said while handing him a sheet. "Eh? What's this? A piece of paper?" Luffy asked.

"Keep it safe. It will let us meet again." Ace said, amused at his little brothers reaction. Turning, he looked to the rosette. He may have only said it to stop her from getting depressed at the time, but he had meant it when he said he'd help her. Also, while he was watching her the other morning, he had noticed how alone she looked. He could see it in her eyes and posture as she stared at the sword she wore on her hip and the way she watched the sun fact that she was strong and protected her nakama so fiercely also made him decide to aske her. "Sakura," he said getting her attention. "You should join the White Beard Pirates."

He watched as a silence descended on the group before everyone yelled "Ehhh!" While Sakura was processing what he said he decided to continue. "I know you aren't a part of any crews officially but it would probably be easier for you to accomplish your goal under our crew's flag and even if you don't find your home, our crew is like a family. We'd happily have you."

Everyone was watching the expressions play across Sakura's face as she considered what Ace had said. Her deliberation was cut off however by Luffy who had finally realized what Ace had suggested. "Oi Ace! Stop trying to steal my crew mate! I've already decided! Sakura is gonna join my crew!" He declared loudly.

Ace blinked then smiled at Luffy. "Oh! My bad. Well even if you don't join, take one of these too." He said handing her a similar piece of paper. "I told you I'd get the Old Man to help you anyway, whether your a part of our crew or not."

Sakura took the piece of paper and smiled at him. "Thanks Ace. In all honesty I don't think I will be joining any crews any time soon." Her face turned serious then. "I made a promise to myself to do something for someone precious to me and I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish that as a well known pirate." Her face softened again as she looked at him. "I might have to take you up on your offer sometime though." She said while tucking the paper between the steel and fabric on her Konoha head band that still hung around her neck.

As if knowing that this would be the case Ace shrugged while saying "It was worth a try." before turning around and making his way back in the direction of the City of Green. He raised his hand in farewell and yelled out a "Take care" before he became a distant figure on the horizon.

Turning to face the Straw Hats, Sakura noticed the pout marring Luffy's face and couldn't help but smile sweetly while grabbing hold of the cheek closest to her and pulling. "You know Luffy, you should ask someone to join you're crew instead of just declaring it." While he tried to pout further, Sakura turned to Vivi and asked how much longer it was until they would reach Yuba.

* * *

Hey guys sorry this took so long. I have had so many problems with this chapter. I couldn't decide what to put in it and what not to. and then I lost my inspiration and had a period of writers block. Im glad Ive finally done it though. I hope you all liked it. Ill have the next chapter up in the next couple of weeks :) I hope you all had a good new years.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys Sorry this took so long.

I just wanted to thank the people who are following this story or have it as a favourite. Also a big thank you to my reviewers. I hope you all like it. I'm actually really excited too because I almost have 100 followers. Yay! Please enjoy this chapter!

* * *

I do not own Naruto or One Piece

Home

Chapter Seven

The city of Yuba was as desolate as the city of Green, the only difference Sakura was able to point out was the one inhabitant who had greeted them upon arrival. It was obvious from her first look that the rebel army no longer resided in Yuba, if Sakura had really thought about it, she should have done some recon before marching blindly into the Alabasta Desert with only Vivi as their guide. Sakura couldn't help but feel guilty. If she had treated this as a real mission she probably would have actually done that, but she didn't. And now they were all in Yuba, while the rebel army was in some other desert city that you would have to trek days across the desert to reach.

Okay she was over exaggerating, but as she began following Vivi into the sleeping quarters they were given she couldn't help but wonder how Vivi felt right now, behind all the smiles and laughs, Sakura was sure that the girl felt like laying in a small ball and letting out tears of frustration. But from what Sakura could tell since meeting her, Vivi had an inner strength that was to be admired. It was a similar strength that she had seen Hinata show on occasion. A determination fierce enough to protect what she valued and to stand up for herself. She was strong, in her own way. Sakura wondered if this was a trait shown by every heiress. After all, Ino had determination like that too.

As they made their way to the sleeping quarters that Toto-san had given them for tonight, Sakura couldn't help but wonder how the Straw Hats and Vivi were going to approach their current problem. Remembering back to when they first reached the oasis, Sakura took into consideration their options.

"_Travelers ay? You must be tired from your trip through the desert." A man in long robes, shovelling dirt said to them. "I'm afraid this town's a little dried up, but you can still rest… we have plenty of inns, that's what we're known for." The old man said as he turned towards them. _

_As Sakura looked at him she couldn't help but give him a full body scan. From the texture of his skin and the way his skin stretched across his bones Sakura could tell just by looking at him that he was suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition. So, this is what Crocodile had done to the people of Alabasta. Sakura thought to herself._

"_What'd you want with the rebellion?!" The man all but growled. "Don't tell me you want to join those filthy rebels!" He yelled while throwing random equipment towards us which I easily dodged but the others were caught off guard by._

_When he finally stopped throwing things and turned back to his work he said "Those fools, are not here any more."_

_After letting that sink in for a second, the group collectively shouted "What!? No way!"_

"_That sandstorm you just saw, wasn't the first. It has been like this for three years. The drought has been eating out the oasis and now as you see, without the circulation of goods, the rebellion can no longer endure. They have moved their base of operations to Katorea."_

"_Ah!" Vivi exclaimed as the old man gave them this new information. "Vivi where is that? Is it close?" Luffy asked quickly to which she told him "It is the oasis next to Nanohana." Sakura couldn't help but feel annoyed, remembering that Nanohana was the port they had first docked at almost four days ago. _

_Sighing Sakura asked the question that was most important right now. "Vivi, how long would it take to get there?"_

_It was Vivi's turn to look dejected. "We will have to return the way we came then travel maybe half a day. But the main problem will be avoiding both the Marines and Baroque works."_

"_I see." Thinking this through Sakura was interrupted by the old man. "Vivi! Princess Vivi? Is that you…?"_

As Sakura thought over what transpired next, she was surprised to hear the history between the two. The fact that Toto-san was the rebel leader's father but loyal to the King was interesting. To be honest, Koza sounded a bit like the stubborn idiot, but then again who was she to judge. She wasn't from Alabasta so she didn't have to live everyday watching as her people were slowly perishing because of the rumoured actions of the King.

Standing in their accommodation for the night, Sakura took in the layout of the room. There were bunk beds set up against all of the walls of the room with enough space in the middle to walk around. Sakura made her way to one of the beds and sat down on it. As she placed her bag up on the bed next to her and began to think up what Vivi would decide everyone will do tomorrow. She couldn't help but remember what Vivi had promised Toto-san.

_Don't worry Toto-san, I'll definitely stop the rebellion. _

It was one hell of a promise. She couldn't help but think of her conversation with Ace about the naivety of the group. They were just so… optimistic. Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by a pillow landing in her face and the sound of heavy laughter.

"Oi! Baka Marimo! Don't throw your ugly pillow at sweet Sakura-san's face!" Sanji yelled while trying to hit Zoro with his own pillow while Zoro laughed at her. Blushing bright red, a dark glint entered Sakura's eyes that had even Zoro on edge. "Zo-ro!" Sakura smiled sweetly before she charged at him with her own pillow, at that point it became an all-out brawl. Letting herself go so she could have some fun, Sakura decided that she could think on everything more the next day once everyone had some time to relax and she had time to think.

Later that night Sakura lay down in her bed, listening as the breathing of her friends evened out one by one, signalling sleep. Unfortunately, she herself was unable to follow. She wasn't sure if it was because of the room being one person short or if she just couldn't get her brain to stop thinking, but despite how long she tried, her body just wouldn't let her relax. Sighing to herself, she slowly got off of her bed and decided to find the wayward captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Walking out into the chilly night air, Sakura made her way towards the front of the deserted city, hoping to find Luffy with Toto. A second pair of foot steps behind her drew her attention. It wasn't often someone could sneak up on a shinobi unless they had good knowledge of the land or were also a shinobi, but as she turned she knew she really shouldn't have been surprised to see Zoro had joined her.

* * *

Zoro's eyes opened as he heard the sound of the door click behind the pinkette. The swordsman would never tell anyone this but since joining the crew, he would usually stay awake until everyone was asleep. He had felt it was his job to protect everyone. He knew that most of the crew were strong in their own way, but as the first member of this crew and as one of the oldest, he couldn't help some of the protective instincts that flared when they were in danger.

Considering he was unlikely to get any sleep without Sakura and Luffy in the room, Zoro stood from his cot, put his coat and boots on and followed the woman out of the room. When the fresh air hit his face Zoro couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped. Watching as Sakura made her way to find Luffy, Zoro decided to follow her. Keeping his eye on her at all times so that he didn't get lost like usual, Zoro realised that she still hadn't noticed him which he found unusual.

Since meeting Sakura, the swordsman had realised that she almost at all times had her guard up and it was almost impossible to sneak up on her unless she was only with people she trusted. This was how he managed to hit her with a pillow earlier that night. So he was surprised that her guard was still down while out in the open.

Having nearly reached the outside of the village, Zoro decided to let her know that he was there by purposely stepping louder than usual. Sakura stopped and whipped her head around in surprise and Zoro couldn't help the smirk that crossed his features.

"Ah Zoro, it's just you." She said to him politely after she nodded at him in greeting. "Couldn't sleep without Luffy?" She questioned him. Zoro grunted in reply. When he had finally caught up with her they began walking side by side in a comfortable silence.

After a few minutes of walking, Zoro turned to look at Sakura only to notice that she was watching the floor in front of her with an intense expression. Sighing inwardly, he thought about how to ask her about what was bothering her. He wasn't good with emotional crap, especially girls unless they spelled out their problems directly.

Deciding to just be straight forward Zoro said "spit it out." Sakura looked up at Zoro after realising that she was being spoken too. "Hmm." She replied, hoping to stew on her thoughts a little longer. "What are you thinking about?" He asked her while frowning at her lack of answer earlier.

Deciding that a second opinion was better than nothing, she said to him after a resigned sigh, "I was just wondering if going to Katorea will change anything."

Zoro thought on that for a second. In truth, it didn't really matter all that much to him. He knew either way that people from both sides were going to die and that either way he would be able to fight people. Not to get him wrong, he was appalled by what Crocodile was doing in this country, but he knew that it was just a matter of prioritising who they went to first.

"I can see where you're coming from. Whether we go to the rebels first or not doesn't matter because we will still end up fighting Crocodile in the end." Looking down at the pinkette he said to her "Let Luffy and Vivi decide which to prioritise first, and when they need us, we'll be there to fight." Sakura nodded to his reply, expecting as much.

Having reached Toto, they looked around only to realise that Luffy wasn't there. However, Zoro's revelation was broken by the sound of heavy snores coming from one of the holes. The green-haired pirate hopped into the crater and walked to the hole to see Luffy asleep. A small twitch of his eyebrow let anyone observing know he was annoyed. Hearing another pair of feet land next to him he turned to see Sakura now standing next to him, smiling down at his dumb-ass captain.

Having drawn the attention of Toto-san they greeted him in a friendly manner then asked how Luffy ended up down there. "He dug that hole with his bare hands. He must be tired. It's good to see that you all look out for each other." Toto said while digging.

Zoro jumped down into the hole and threw Luffy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before jumping out again. Dusting himself off, he heard Sakura speaking to Toto.

"Do you want some help Toto-san?" Sakura asked politely. Toto just smiled at her before saying that he was going to stay up a little longer. "Okay then, but don't push yourself too hard. Everyone needs sleep." She said to him gently. Before she began walking with Zoro. "Oyasuminasai." She said over her shoulder.

Walking back to the room, Zoro felt Sakura's gaze on him. Looking at her, he watched as a smile appeared on her face. "What's with the look?" He questioned her.

Noticing her smile grow wider, Zoro lifted an eyebrow at her when she replied with a short "nothing." Not bothering to wonder what goes on in the heads of women, Zoro couldn't help but mumble under his breath "witch" as he kept walking to which Sakura giggled.

"Ne Zoro…" Sakura said to him with a smile. "Hn" He replied, not bothering to look at her. "Why do you follow Luffy?"

"You sure are asking a lot of questions tonight." He said in a teasing voice, smirking at the small blush that adorned her face. Zoro watched her amusedly as she huffed in embarrassment before a small smile lit her face again and she got a far off look.

"I know Luffy has a way with people, but you don't seem like the type of person who just follows someone blindly." She commented. Looking forward again Zoro thought back to his promise to Kuina and his first meeting with Luffy.

_Promise me! One of us will become the greatest swordsman in the world!_

_I will never lose again!_

"You're right about that. Everyone on the crew has their own goals they want to accomplish and while we could all probably accomplish them elsewhere, it's as you said, Luffy has a way with people." He smirked.

"Oh and what's your goal?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I'm going to become the greatest swordsman in the world." He said then looked at her with a grin. "It's only right that the King of the Pirates has nothing but the best at his side."

Looking down at Sakura, he saw a nostalgic smile on her face. He was surprised by how many times her facial expressions changed in such a small time. "What about you? What are your goals?" He asked her curiously. He had noticed in his time with Sakura that she mostly wore her emotions on her sleeve. He would often catch her smiling sadly at memories no one else was privy to. He knew the feeling, but instead of wallowing in them he embraced them and tried to get stronger even if he didn't show it on the outside. Then again, he's had years to overcome his inner turmoil and Sakura seems to have been hurt rather recently. He was brought out of his thoughts by her response.

"My goals…" She whispered. "A few years ago I dreamt of becoming strong enough to stand with my precious people and to fight side by side with them. I didn't want to be dead weight anymore." She looked away sadly. "Two years ago my dream became a reality and I fought alongside my boys for the first time in a long time." She smiled sadly. Zoro wondered what went wrong in achieving her dream if she looked so sad. However his thoughts were interrupted by another voice.

"Do you regret it?" Luffy said with his hand under his chin supported by his elbow which was digging into Zoro's back as he looked at Sakura intensely.

Annoyed that he had been giving his captain a free ride when he could have been walking himself, Zoro unceremoniously pushed his legs over the back of his shoulder and dropped Luffy on his head behind him as he kept walking.

"Oi Zoro! Why'd you do that?!" His captain whined. Sakura giggled at him drawing his attention back to her.

"Well, do you?" Zoro and Luffy watched as different emotions played on her face before she settled on a small smile.

"No, I don't regret being able to fight alongside them. I was happy and content." She said as her smile turned nostalgic at the memory. Even if it was during the war, Sakura for the first time in a long time, felt a part of team seven. "Then what's the long face for?" Luffy asked as he dusted himself off. A dark look crossed Sakura's face before she got a faraway look in her eyes. "It's because I regret what happened after…" Turning she smiled again before making her way forward. Zoro and Luffy watched her back as she kept walking, thinking about the fake smile Sakura had put on. Realising they had reached their sleeping quarters, they all bunked down for the night. Thoughts swirling in their heads about dreams, promises and death.

* * *

"I quit." Luffy's declaration echoed in the minds of Sakura, Vivi and the Straw Hats. Sakura watched as each member of the crew let out their own feelings at Luffy's change in mood.

"What'd you mean?", "We don't have time to put up with your moodiness", "Yeah, let's get going." Said Usopp, Nami and Chopper. Sanji was the one who got straight to the point though.

"If we don't get back to Katorea then millions of Alabasta's people are going to die and things are going to get ugly real quick." He said. "This is for Vivi! now let's get going."

"That's boring." Luffy replied. Looking somewhat serious despite his answer as he laid his head back against the tree he was sitting under while the rest surrounded him. "Vivi."

"Yes" Was the quiet reply from Vivi.

"Right now all I want to do is kick crocodile's ass. If we stop the rebellion, will that stop crocodile? Besides, we won't be able to do anything in Katorea. We're pirates, you see. Things are better off without us around." Luffy said to her. Sakura nodded in agreement while Zoro grunted and the rest looked a little taken aback by the assessment of the situation that Luffy had given them. It was obvious with the ease that both Zoro and Sakura agreed that they had thought about this also.

"He can get straight to the point sometimes." Sanji commented while exhaling his smoke.

"Despite being Luffy." Usopp added.

"That's not-" Vivi went to argue but was cut off by Luffy. "You want it so nobody dies in this fight, none of the citizens and none of us either. We are up against Crocodile, one of the Seven War Lords of the sea and a million other people on top of that and you still hope everyone will end up safe and sound." Luffy took a deep breath before continuing. "Don't you think that's too soft hearted?"

The stunned look on Vivi's face caused a small twinge in Sakura's heart, but she was glad that Luffy was saying all of this to her now. Vivi had to realise that they couldn't just go in and save the day. That was naïve thinking.

"Come on Luffy, can't you at least show Vivi a little sympathy?" Nami said as she began walking forward but was stopped by Sanji. "Wait Nami-san."

"But-"

"And what's wrong with that?" Vivi yelled. "What's wrong with not wanting to see people die or get hurt?"

"'Cos people die." Luffy stated it in such a matter of fact way that it surprised Sakura.

"Don't say that! I won't listen. Say that again and I'll make you pay. That's what we're trying to stop! No one in Alabasta is to blame for this! It's all Crocodiles fault!" Vivi yells as she tackles Luffy to the ground and punches him repeatedly.

"So you're saying," Luffy yells as he rolls them over and raises his fist "that it's okay for you to die?!" He yells as he brings down his fist on her face. Sakura cringes but still stands back. She can hear the disagreement from Usopp and Sanji saying he's gone too far but Sakura puts her hand up to stop them from interfering.

"Vivi-chan needs to hear what Luffy has to say. Even if this is the only way to get through to her." Sakura said to them.

"Even being in this country only four days I can tell what needs to be done…"

"What?!" Vivi yelled at Luffy.

"As if putting your single life on the line is enough…" Luffy told her.

"What should I be putting on the line then?" Vivi cried. "I don't have anything I can put on the line!"

"You can at least try putting all of our lives on the line together!" Luffy yelled before continuing softly. "Aren't we friends?" He questioned Vivi as tears cascaded down her face and she began sobbing. "So you can cry those sort of tears…" Luffy said softly as he stood up and made his way past Nami who was now embracing Vivi.

"I know how much you can't stand this. You want to get crocodile the most. Now tell me! Where can I find Crocodile?!" Luffy demanded. Sakura couldn't help the smile that plastered itself on her face as she watched Luffy. He was so much more like Naruto than she'd realised. Turning back Sakura watched Vivi wipe her tears with her sleeve before pulling out the map of Alabasta and pointing at a city and announcing 'Rain Base: The City of Dreams.'

* * *

Sakura laughed while watching Zoro tease Eye Lashes. He was currently sitting with his back to the fence and continually hitting lashes with a stick on the nose. He was timing it right so that the camel couldn't bite the stick to get it out of his hand. She'd noticed that the boys had taken to teasing or bashing him whenever possible since he had declared that he would only carry girls. Right now, Sakura, Zoro, Nami, Vivi, and Sanji were sitting under a tree waiting for Usopp and Luffy who had agreed to go get water and Chopper who had also left to take care of business. Though none of them could shake off the bad feeling they had.

"Do you really think it was alright to let them go?" Sanji questioned the group while looking in the direction they had left.

"It was only a small errand." Nami said. "They can do it."

"I wonder…You don't think they'll come back with trouble?" Zoro asked.

Sakura smiled "This is Luffy we're talking about, I may have only known you guys for just over a week but even I can tell you that Luffy will probably come back with Crocodile chasing him." She said before adding, "Or worst, a bunch of marines." Leaning back against a tree, Sakura shut her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier? I would have went instead." Nami complained at the prospect of facing Crocodile or a group of marines. Sakura just shrugged before saying "Why try to stop the inevitable?" which got a smile out of Sanji and Vivi and an amused snicker from Zoro.

"Well I can't argue with that." Nami said with a fond smile. It wasn't twenty seconds later that they heard it. Standing up, Sakura prepared herself for the worst.

"Crap! The marines are chasing them." Sanji let everyone know. "What?! Why are they leading them over here for?" Nami said while holding her head in her hands. Sakura just laughed at the similarities of this time round and when they first arrived in Nanohana.

"Wait we can't leave Tony-kun." Vivi said as Luffy, Usopp and the marines got closer. "He'll be fine." Zoro said before turning to run when they heard Luffy yell "Hey guys! The marines are coming!" Sakura couldn't tell if she felt like smacking them both or laughing at the stupidness of their actions. She settled with just sighing before she took off running with everyone else.

"This isn't good." Sanji said while he ran. "At this rate, Baroque Works will spot us." Looking around, Sakura noticed a lot of men holding flyers. It wasn't until she saw a picture of Luffy on one of them that she realised it was too late.

"It's too late. They already know." Zoro said as they passed an ally filled with men who were obviously pirates.

"Vivi! Let's go to where Crocodile is!" Luffy told her. Vivi looked up to see where they were. When she saw the building she was looking for, she immediately pointed it out. "There the one with the Crocodile on it is the 'Rain Dinners' Casino that Crocodile owns." Vivi said.

Turning to look behind them Sakura realised that there was no way they were going to be able to escape the marines and Baroque works as a group. "We need to split up!" She said to everyone. "Okay! We'll meet back at the 'Croc's house'" Luffy told everyone before turning left and yelling "Smokey! Come get me!" and taking off.

Sanji, Usopp and Nami ran straight down the middle path while Zoro, Vivi and Sakura took the right path.

Stopping at an intersection to turn around because marines were coming from the direction they were going, Sakura tapped Zoro on the shoulder before saying, "Zoro! We'll leave them to you!" Before grabbing Vivi's hand and jerking her towards herself before picking her up bridle style and running toward the nearest building. "Hold on tight." She told Vivi.

"Oi Sakura! Witch!" Zoro yelled at her before engaging the marines in combat only to realise the Kuina look alike was with them. Groaning, he inwardly cursed Sakura for leaving him there to give them time to get away.

Running up the wall of the building it didn't take long for Sakura to reach the top and start jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She could hear the breaths Vivi would let out whenever she jumped and was surprised she was taking it so well.

"I'll go back onto the ground in a minute, I just want to give us enough time to get away." Sakura told Vivi who nodded enthusiastically at her.

Jumping down an ally way, Sakura put Vivi down and made sure she was alright to walk and run. Pulling their hoods up, they both ran out onto the street. Although they had managed to avoid the marines easily, Sakura realised that they were only half the battle. Looking around Sakura realised they were almost surrounded. Pulling Vivi behind her Sakura yelled at her "I'll make you an opening so you can meet up with the others first. I'll meet you guys there once I've cleared the trash." Sakura said as she slowly drew her sword and faced the thirty or so members of Baroque works.

Rushing at them, Sakura moved with precision and focus. Her body became one with the Kusanagi as she sliced through her enemies. Deciding that she could no longer use just her sword, Sakura dug her sword into the ground and used it as leverage to spin herself in a circle. While sending chakra to her feet Sakura kicked back the enemies who had encircled her, pushing them back a good distance. Turning to make sure there was no one behind her, Sakura noticed that a few of the men had tried to leave her and go after Vivi. Not liking this Sakura put her hands together to make the familiar jutsu and shouted "Earth style: Earth Wall!" Before they could pass, a giant wall stood between them and Vivi.

The looks of fear in their eyes changing to determination as they charged Sakura again was all she needed to know that she had to go all out. Brining her fist back, she sent it down to the ground with a shout of "Shannarou!" The explosion was massive, levelling the square they had been fighting in. Sakura looked at the giant crater she had created before turning around when she heard a familiar male voice yell "What the Hell!"

Looking up to see that Zoro was finally done and running towards her with some marines still on his tail. Sakura turned when he was in line with her and started running at the wall that was blocking their path. As Zoro began to pull out one of his swords, Sakura put a hand out to stop him and wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled one of his arms over her own shoulder. She didn't tell him she was going to jump over the wall, but he didn't really need to know given that he'd seen her take Vivi earlier and jump straight on the roofs.

"Bend your knees." She warned him as they landed and took off in a sprint again towards the Casino. "Where's Vivi?" He asked her. "I told her to go on a head while I dealt with the Baroque Work' guys."

The Casino had finally come into view and the two of them fastened their pace only to see Usopp and Nami about to be sliced by some Marines. Jumping, Zoro and Sakura kicked them from behind, sending them into the wall on the opposite side of the square.

"Is Vivi here?" She asked the three who all shook their heads in the negative. "I thought she was with you?" Nami questioned.

"We sent her on a head while we fought." Zoro said while looking around. "Maybe she's inside already." Usopp suggested. Spotting Luffy, his eyes widened when he took in all of the marines following him. "Run! Get inside!" Luffy yelled.

Words could be heard echoing throughout the casino as one Monkey D Luffy blew the door open.

"I'm coming for you Crocodile!"

* * *

Thank you for reading. I'm sorry I didn't edit it well this time around, I hope you still enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think.


End file.
